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In this week's article: #Bar owners and #bartenders risk their livelihoods every time they serve a drink. Server liability, or "dram shop," laws can leave them open to fines, job loss, or even jail time if a customer drinks too much and does something stupid. Where did these laws come from, and are they a just (or effective) way to fight problems like drunk driving? LINK IN PROFILE

Smashed. Blitzed. Tanked. Shit-faced. Three sheets. Lit. Gassed, gay, glassy, glowed, and greased. The Dictionary of American Slang lists over 350 different synonyms for "drunk" - more than any other word in the English language. Some are funny, some are violent, some are joyous, and a few are depressing. Many can be all four, depending on the circumstances. I guess it makes sense that our words for drinking are as complicated as our relationship with alcohol itself!

July 1, 1919: "Thirsty-First." 100 years ago today, the Wartime Prohibition Act took effect. The act had been passed in late 1918, as WWI wound down, and was supposed to make sure valuable grain headed for bakeries, not distilleries. The 18th Amendment had been ratified at this point, so Thirsty-First gave drinking Americans a little preview of what was to come. #law #liquorlaws #history #americanhistory #prohibition #wwi #worldwarone #drinkstagram #inthespiritofthelaw

New article! (Link in profile) Bourbon companies, and bourbon drinkers, talk a lot about authenticity and tradition. Turns out they were pretty obsessed with that 130 years ago, too, as fake, flavored whiskey threatened the industry. The solution? Turn to Uncle Sam! Learn more about the strange partnership that brought about the Bottled in Bond Act.

Drink good, drunk bad. That idea shapes the history of our #liquorlaws, and it's as old as the Puritans. Increase Mather, born today in 1639, wrote: "Drink is in itself a good creature of God... but the abuse of drink is from Satan. The wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil." Drunkenness was illegal in Plymouth Colony as early as 1635.

NEW ARTICLE! Wings and beer. Pretty classic combination. But if this were Colorado, these wings wouldn't legally be wings at all. They'd be a sandwich. A lot of places require bars to serve food, but in some of them it leads to some pretty strange conclusions. Like new meanings for the word "sandwich." LINK IN PROFILE!

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Tag: brandy

January 9, 2019January 24, 2019

Do Higher Taxes Reduce Drinking’s Problems?

The impact of taxes on the price of booze has been dropping for decades.

Tagged alcohol, American history, bar, bars, bartender, booze, brandy, cocktail, drinking, gin, history, imbibe, law, liquor, liquor law, Prohibition, rum, spirits, tax, taxes, tequila, vodka, whiskey, whisky. Leave a comment

December 26, 2018May 11, 2019

Home Distilling: Yep, Still Illegal

Making your own hooch is as American as hard apple cider

Tagged alcohol, booze, bourbon, brandy, craft, distillery, distilling, law, liquor, liquor law, rum, spirits, vodka, whiskey, whisky. Leave a comment

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