Ol_Ag_02 said:

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Banning booze was dumb, just like banning weed is dumb.

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Why did one take amendment?

Reading "The Souls of Just Men" right now. It's about moonshine in Appalachia in 1920s-1930s.

Fascinating.

Grandfather was as German as they come, and told me this story (born in 1914 so similar in age to OP's grandfather):

Down in San Patricio county on their place near Banquete, my great-grandpa made homemade wine for his own consumption (and the other German families in the area.) The fermenting vat and bottles were hidden in a big wooden box just off either their or their neighbor's porch, and they put a jug on top of like it was there to catch water off the roof. Neighbors contributed to the batches and all was good.

Law enforcement got wind that the krauts were brewing something, so they went to the farm to investigate. Sure enough, they looked around and didn't fine anything. Great grandpa and the deputy just leaned on that wooden box and talked for a while, until they gave up looking and left.

Not more than a few minutes after they left, one of the bottles that wasn't fully fermented exploded in the heat with a big bang, leaking red wine everywhere.

das Krauts were always brewing something ...

Great story!

Went on a tour of shiner beer in shiner, Texas and they told stories of how they bootlegged beer during prohibition. Quite interesting.

My uncles live in Martinsville, Virginia and they still get shine delivered to the house during the night. They turn one of the metal house numbers sideways and leave money under the third board in the porch. The next morning a bottle of shine in a Ball canning glass jar is there. They never know what flavor they are going to get. When I was there it was cherry as they showed me they entire process.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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Banning booze was dumb, just like banning weed is dumb.

Freedom is paramount.

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If only we'd learn from our mistakes. Sadly here we are 100 years later and otherwise intelligent people still think a ban solves a problem.

My grandfather grew up during some prohibition and the great depression. He had cans of bent nails meant for hammering straight, fixed old igloo coolers with broken drain spout covers with shaved wine corks, etc. Fixed everything like it was the last "whatever" he had. I bought their house from my Mom in circa 2001, and parts of his shop had not been gone through since his passing in '85. Found all kinds of stuff I expected, but never found what drove home growing up in/around the Great Depression. Something he had showed me back in the early '70s when I was a kid. A big 'ol ball of string/twine/small rope that he had kept at that time for about 30 years. If it was longer than a foot, it got woven into and wrapped around the ball. I don't know if he ever bought a roll of twine/string in his life after starting that ball. Was very disappointed that I did not find that when we cleared his shop out when I bought the house and had a big ass garage sale. Would have boxed it and kept it and used it to teach my kids one day.

On to the garage sale: Now Granddad was known to have a nip know and then, and sometimes a few nips too much. Everyone in the family had thought he had just given it up years before he passed. In the garage sale, there was an old homemade Ice cream maker he used to make ice cream when I was a little kid (early 70's). The wooden stakes had come loose from the metal rings when I opened the box and we put a $1 on the box thinking get rid of it. This garage sale was HUGE. Well, we had about 40 people in the driveway and a lady asked can I open the box and see if I can fix it. "Sure, go ahead". A couple minutes later, the lady held up a bottle of Ancient Age Whiskey and asked out loud "So, whose is THIS?". Our family laughed that Granddaddy had a stash in the ice cream maker! It still had some in it after 16 years since his passing. Old folks took care of their stuff, and themselves in a pinch. Still wonder how he'd cover his breath after hitting the stash to keep Grandma from catching on. She was a hell of a cook and could pick up smells like no one could.

milner79 said:

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das Krauts were always brewing something ...

Great story!

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My father was a teenager during prohibition. His job was to deliver the families "home brew" to customers. One of his biggest customer was the sheriff of the county. Prohibition, did not slow das Krauts.