A bit of local beer history
This was posted on face book last week. I thought it was interesting and cool. I happen to work at the lions. The street that runs between the brew house and the bottling plant is named Hart street.
Luzerne County Historical Society
April 7 at 12:00am ·
Did you know that April 7th is National Beer Day? On April 7th, 1933 American could finally buy "real" beer (3.2%) instead of the non-alcoholic "near-beers that had been sold during Prohibition.
Well at least that was the case in the rest of America. In Luzerne County, beer had been flowing throughout Prohibition. Breweries in America either closed outright or switched to different productions. Yuengling famously made ice cream, and Anheuser-Busch built caskets. What did the Stegmaier and Luzerne County Brewery (now the Lion) do? Nothing, they just kept making regular old beer and called it "near-beer".
Similar to some politicians' feelings today on cannabis, Mayor Hart was a staunchly "wet" mayor and believed that Prohibition was a federal idea, so let the Feds enforce it! The local breweries quickly realized that even with the yearly raids and fines from the Feds, they would still make a comfy profit each year from selling illegal booze!
Despite all this, the unofficial holiday was no less rowdy in the county, as at 12:01am (note the time of this post) trucks rolled out from all of the area's breweries, and delivered to a thirsty populace. Saloons, Barber Shops, and Bowling Alleys stayed open all night to serve patrons legally for the first time since 1920.
Re: A bit of local beer history
For some reason I do not find this surprising. NE PA has a history of political shenanigans, so this fits right in.
Ring a ding ding, do the Stegmaier thing!!
Re: A bit of local beer history
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gghbi
For some reason I do not find this surprising. NE PA has a history of political shenanigans, so this fits right in.
Ring a ding ding, do the Stegmaier thing!!
We also had a lot of breweries , and drunks!
Re: A bit of local beer history
did anyone happen to have the good fortune of attending a Michael Jackson (not the child molestor) beer festival in Philly?
was a great time.... RIP
