# Liquor Production Facilties During USA Prohibition

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 1, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754 "2003-04-01T18:02:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754/1 "2003-04-01T18:02:45Z")

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What happened to all the breweries and distilleries during prohibiton in the 1920’s. Did many close down , go out of business ,never to reopen ?. Or did they mothball the places , keep on minimum staff and hope that they would reopen eventually. What about the workforce , did many people lose thier jobs because of this?.

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754/2 "2003-04-01T18:20:59Z")

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Well, a lot of them went out of business, and the others managed to survive by manufacturing other things.

[http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n1183/a02.html](http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n1183/a02.html)

And…

[http://www.gliah.uh.edu/database/article\_display.cfm?HHID=441](http://www.gliah.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=441)

> [@](#):
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> Prohibition devastated the nation’s brewing industry. St. Louis had 22 breweries before Prohibition. When it ended in 1933, only nine reopened. Anheiser-Busch made it through Prohibition by making ice cream, near beer, corn syrup, ginger ale, root beer, yeast, malt extract, refrigerated cabinets and automobile and truck bodies.

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**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754/3 "2003-04-01T18:26:56Z")

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Stroh’s made [ice cream](http://www.melodyfarms.com/IceCream-Strohs.html). It’s actually pretty good.

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**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754/4 "2003-04-01T18:27:15Z")

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America’s oldest brewery, Yuengling, (a place near and dear to my heart) survived by making [near beer and dairy products](http://www.yuengling.com/history2.htm).

Ummmm…Celebrated Pottsville Dark-Brewed Porter.

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**Author:** ![bobk2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bobk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobk2)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754/5 "2003-04-01T19:15:38Z")

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Slightly related; I believe in Canada the Bronffman (sp?) family kept manufacturing various alcoholic beverages, in some instances under the guise of “for medicinal purposes only” even when some regions of Canada had locallized prohibition. I seem to remember hearing of a …prolific…doctor writing over 10,000 prescriptions per month.

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**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liquor-production-facilties-during-usa-prohibition/165754/6 "2003-04-02T15:46:23Z")

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Thanks for those answers. As a follow up :- the breweries that survived , were they the producers who produced the best beer or was it only because they had the deepest pockets?. My guess is that some that went to the wall probably produced better quality beer but just could not survive the shutdown.