Prohibition in the United States

===Other effects===
[[File:Raceland Louisiana Beer Drinkers Russell Lee.jpg|thumb|Men and women drinking beer at a bar in [[Raceland, Louisiana]], September 1938. Pre-Prohibition saloons were mostly male establishments; post-Prohibition bars catered to both males and females.]]

During the Prohibition era, rates of [[absenteeism]] decreased from 10% to 3%.<ref name="Behr2011">{{cite book |last1=Behr |first1=Edward |title=Prohibition: Thirteen Years that Changed America |date=2011 |publisher=[[Arcade Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-61145-009-5 |language=en}}</ref> In Michigan, the [[Ford Motor Company]] documented "a decrease in absenteeism from 2,620 in April 1918 to 1,628 in May 1918."<ref name="Lyons2018">{{cite web |last1=Lyons |first1=Mickey |title=Dry Times: Looking Back 100 Years After Prohibition |url=http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/May-2018/Dry-Times-Looking-Back-100-Years-After-Prohibition/%27 |publisher=[[Hour Detroit]] |date=April 30, 2018 |access-date=December 3, 2018 |archive-date=January 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120200711/https://www.hourdetroit.com/community/dry-times-looking-back-100-years-after-prohibition/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

As [[Western saloon|saloons]] died out, public drinking lost much of its macho connotation, resulting in increased social acceptance of women drinking in the semi-public environment of the [[Speakeasy|speakeasies]]. This new norm established women as a notable new target demographic for alcohol marketeers, who sought to expand their clientele.<ref name="Blocker, Jr. 2006 233–243"/> Women thus found their way into the bootlegging business, with some discovering that they could make a living by selling alcohol with a minimal likelihood of suspicion by law enforcement.<ref>O'Donnell, Jack. "The Ladies of Rum Row". American Legion Weekly, (May 1924): 3</ref> Before prohibition, women who drank publicly in saloons or taverns, especially outside of urban centers like Chicago or New York, were seen as immoral or were likely to be prostitutes.<ref>Mar Murphy, "Bootlegging Mothers and Drinking Daughters: Gender and Prohibition in Butte Montana." ''American Quarterly'', Vol 46, No 2, p. 177, 1994</ref><!---added sentence really needs to be better integrated into paragraph. Wording needs tweaking-->

Heavy drinkers and alcoholics were among the most affected groups during Prohibition. Those who were determined to find liquor could still do so, but those who saw their drinking habits as destructive typically had difficulty in finding the help they sought. Self-help societies had withered away along with the alcohol industry. In 1935 a new self-help group called [[Alcoholics Anonymous|Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)]] was founded.<ref name="Blocker, Jr. 2006 233–243"/>

Prohibition also had an effect on the [[Music of the United States|music industry in the United States]], specifically with [[jazz]]. [[Speakeasy|Speakeasies]] became very popular, and the [[Great Depression|Great Depression's]] migratory effects led to the dispersal of jazz music, from [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] going north through [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] and to New York. This led to the development of different styles in different cities. Due to its popularity in speakeasies and the emergence of advanced recording technology, jazz's popularity skyrocketed. It was also at the forefront of the minimal integration efforts going on at the time, as it united mostly black musicians with mostly white audiences.<ref>{{cite book | author =Lewis A. Erenberg | title =Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture | publisher =The University of Chicago Press | year =1998 | location =Chicago }}</ref><!--page#?-->

====Alcohol production====
Making [[moonshine]] was an industry in the [[American South]] before and after Prohibition. In the 1950s [[muscle cars]] became popular and various roads became known as "Thunder Road" for their use by moonshiners. A popular song was created and the legendary drivers, cars, and routes were depicted on film in ''[[Thunder Road (1958 film)|Thunder Road]]''.<ref>[http://www.oldcarmemories.com/content/view/63/76/ Thunder Road – the First Muscle Car Movie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191941/http://www.oldcarmemories.com/content/view/63/76/ |date=January 2, 2014 }} by Pete Dunton July 20, 2010 Old Car Memories</ref><ref>[http://jacksonville.com/news/premium/metro/2012-11-16/story/legend-moonshiners-thunder-road-lives-baker-county Legend of moonshiners' 'Thunder Road' lives on in Baker County] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601225436/http://jacksonville.com/news/premium/metro/2012-11-16/story/legend-moonshiners-thunder-road-lives-baker-county |date=June 1, 2015 }} November 16, 2012 Jacksonville Metro</ref><ref>[http://www.metropulse.com/news/2010/jun/30/driving-tennessees-white-lightnin-trail-it-real-th/ Driving Tennessee's "White Lightnin' Trail" – is it the Real Thunder Road?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103012534/http://www.metropulse.com/news/2010/jun/30/driving-tennessees-white-lightnin-trail-it-real-th/ |date=January 3, 2014 }}; Jack Neely retraces the infamous bootlegger's route as it becomes an official state tourist attraction by Jack Neely MetroPulse June 30, 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/feb/13/appalachian-journal-the-end-of-thunder-road/ Appalachian Journal: The end of Thunder Road] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210074232/http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/feb/13/appalachian-journal-the-end-of-thunder-road/ |date=February 10, 2014 }}; Man known for whiskey cars, moonshine and rare auto parts is selling out by Fred Brown Knoxville News Sentinel February 13, 2007</ref>

As a result of Prohibition, the advancements of [[industrialization]] within the alcoholic beverage industry were essentially reversed. Large-scale alcohol producers were shut down, for the most part, and some individual citizens took it upon themselves to produce alcohol illegally, essentially reversing the efficiency of mass-producing and retailing alcoholic beverages. Closing the country's manufacturing plants and taverns also resulted in an economic downturn for the industry. While the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighteenth Amendment]] did not have this effect on the industry due to its failure to define an "intoxicating" beverage, the [[Volstead Act]]'s definition of 0.5% or more alcohol by volume shut down the brewers, who expected to continue to produce beer of moderate strength.<ref name="Blocker, Jr. 2006 233–243" />

In 1930 the Prohibition Commissioner estimated that in 1919, the year before the Volstead Act became law, the average drinking American spent $17 per year on alcoholic beverages. By 1930, because enforcement diminished the supply, spending had increased to $35 per year (there was no inflation in this period). The result was an illegal alcohol beverage industry that made an average of $3 billion per year in illegal untaxed income.<ref>{{cite journal|author=E. E. Free|date=May 1930|title=Where America Gets Its Booze: An Interview With Dr. James M. Doran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OigDAAAAMBAJ&q=1930+plane+%22Popular&pg=PA19|journal=Popular Science Monthly|volume=116|issue=5|page=147|access-date=November 7, 2013|archive-date=January 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120200713/https://books.google.com/books?id=OigDAAAAMBAJ&q=1930+plane+%22Popular&pg=PA19|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Volstead Act specifically allowed individual farmers to make certain wines "on the [[legal fiction]] that it was a non-intoxicating fruit-juice for home consumption",<ref>{{Cite magazine | url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742105,00.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061214152014/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742105,00.html  | archive-date= December 14, 2006 |title=Prohibition: Wine Bricks |magazine=Time |date=August 17, 1931 |access-date=May 26, 2013}}</ref> and many did so. Enterprising grape farmers produced liquid and semi-solid grape concentrates, often called "wine bricks" or "wine blocks".<ref>{{cite news| title=Prohibition in Wine Country| publisher=[[Napa Valley Register]]| url=http://www.napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/real-napa/article_ed8bdf22-4a81-11df-bb7d-001cc4c002e0.html| date=April 18, 2010| author=Kelsey Burnham| access-date=April 18, 2010| archive-date=April 20, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420090247/http://www.napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/real-napa/article_ed8bdf22-4a81-11df-bb7d-001cc4c002e0.html| url-status=live}}</ref> This demand led [[California (wine)|California]] grape growers to increase their land under cultivation by about 700% during the first five years of Prohibition. The grape concentrate was sold with a "warning": "After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it will turn into wine".<ref name="AaronMusto1981" />

The Volstead Act allowed the sale of [[sacramental wine]] to priests and ministers and allowed [[rabbis]] to approve sales of [[kosher wine]] to individuals for [[Sabbath]] and holiday use at home. Among [[Jews]], four rabbinical groups were approved, which led to some competition for membership, since the supervision of sacramental licenses could be used to secure donations to support a religious institution. There were known abuses in this system, with impostors or unauthorized agents using loopholes to purchase wine.<ref name="Last Call"/><ref name=Sprecher>{{cite web|author=Hannah Sprecher|title="Let Them Drink and Forget Our Poverty": Orthodox Rabbis React to Prohibition|url=http://sites.americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1991_43_02_00_sprecher.pdf|publisher=American Jewish Archives|access-date=September 4, 2013|archive-date=November 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124120114/https://sites.americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1991_43_02_00_sprecher.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Prohibition had a notable effect on the alcohol brewing industry in the United States. Wine historians note that Prohibition destroyed what was a fledgling wine industry in the United States. Productive, wine-quality grapevines were replaced by lower-quality vines that grew thicker-skinned grapes, which could be more easily transported. Much of the institutional knowledge was also lost as winemakers either emigrated to other wine-producing countries or left the business altogether.<ref>{{cite book | author =Karen MacNeil | title =The Wine Bible | pages =630–631 | author-link =Karen MacNeil }}</ref> Distilled spirits became more popular during Prohibition.<ref name="Lusk, Rufus S 1932"/> Because their alcohol content was higher than that of fermented wine and beer, spirits were often diluted with non-alcoholic drinks.<ref name="Lusk, Rufus S 1932"/>