Celebrate the end of Prohibition with a drink today

Universal Newsreel clip via the Internet Archives

No really. It’s almost a badge of American honor on Thursday.

80 years ago today, Congress repealed Prohibition, a 13-year experiment in forced temperance, and made the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcoholic drinks legal with the adoption of the 21st Amendment on Dec. 5, 1933. It’s the only amendment to pass via state ratifying conventions — loosely approximating a one-state, one-vote national referendum — with Michigan leading the way on April 10, 1933 and Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah making the final three states on Dec. 5 to meet the three-fourths quota necessary to overturn the 18th Amendment. (Should your after-work trivia night include little-known facts about the 21st amendment, South Carolina was the only state to reject it, and North Carolina was the only not to consider it.)

How to celebrate? You could watch “Prohibition”, a documentary film series about the rise and fall of the 18th Amendment. Of course, you may also want a drink. We have a list of cocktails worthy of a glam Hollywood-era fete, including a Manhattan and the Mae West.

Here’s one of this author’s favorites:

RYE AND GINGER

• 1.5 ounces of rye whiskey
• 3 ounces of ginger beer
• 3 dashes of citrus bitters (oranges or lemons work nicely)
• garnish with a maraschino cherry (a real one, not the plastic, neon-red kind)

Build together over ice and enjoy.

H/T Elizabeth Shell