Drinking Canadian Whiskey in New York after the end of Prohibition

Between the years of 1920 and 1933, alcohol was an illegal substance to sell in the United States. If you're a history buff, you know that the consumption of alcohol went down only slightly, and simply went underground. This was the time of bootleggers, and if you were in New York City during Prohibition the vast majority of your illegal hooch was smuggled from Canada (which didn't have Prohibition).

A "bootlegger", by the way, was a name given to people who smuggled alcohol, and that included beer, wine, and of course whiskey. A LOT of whiskey came from Canada, some of the really good stuff was made by Hiram Walker. He sold his whiskey as Hiram Walker Club Whiskey. Of course he didn't advertise during Prohibition, it would have been as ridiculous a thought as your local drug dealer buying a billboard nowadays to advertise cocaine, or meth (or any illegal drug). But after 1933, with the repeal of Prohibition, things all changed.


It must have taken some getting used to seeing ads for whiskey. This one, which is from 1937, simply says Hiram Walker Canadian Club. But people knew what it was. Hiram Walker didn't need to spell out the word "whiskey", which could have been kinda shocking to see just four years after the end of Prohibition. It's a little like the legal marijuana being sold here in Arizona nowadays, I see a lot of different terms, they don't come right out and say it, but I know what they're saying.

I've never done any illegal drugs myself, but I have drunk whiskey - usually the type made in Tennessee, or at least somewhere in the USA. I've tried highballs, which I disliked, and even tried mixing whiskey with 7-Up, which I also disliked. My preference is "on the rocks", which just means over ice, and I have little teeny-weenie glasses for it. I'm told that Canadian whiskey is particularly smooth, so I plan on trying some this weekend. I'm no expert on whiskey, but it only seems fair for me to see what all the fuss is about.


This image, by the way, is of Broadway at W. 46th Street, and I found it on the Duke University website. I'm not advertising them, or Hiram Walker, I'm just looking at stuff, and time-traveling. Hey, I just noticed the Ballantine's Ale ad back there. I notice that it didn't say "beer", because I'm inclined to think that people weren't ready to see that word up in lights quite yet. Times would change.

Thank you for visiting Times Square with me in 1937 today! I'll let you know about that whiskey!


Images from the Duke University Library Digital Collections.
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Comments

  1. Cpt. CrankyAugust 19, 2021 at 9:55 PM

    Ale is a type of beer, as is lager, malt and many other types. I dislike most beer myself, so my knowledge is limited. There are MANY webpages devoted to the subject if anyone has further interest.

    ReplyDelete

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