Pic(k) of the Week: Moon Over Clarendon

In the late afternoon of 2 December 2009, a waxing moon rises over Clarendon, Virginia.

It would be a full moon the next night. In fact, there will be two full moons this month, the second on New Year's Eve. That's a rare occasion: a Blue Moon.

There is another definition of a Blue Moon: when 4 full moons fall within 1 season, the 3rd is a Blue Moon. More here.

The Three-Tier System

You might have to be a lawyer to understand the legalities and intricacies of the US alcohol distribution network, originally set up after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. And even that might not be sufficient.

In most states, a shop or restaurant may only purchase alcoholic beverages from a wholesaler (or the state or municipality) and often it may only buy a particular beverage from the wholesaler designated by the state to purvey it.

This is commonly referred to as the three-tier-system, that is: producer, wholesaler, and retailer. It is regulated in each state by an agency named the ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Commission) or something similar.

In many states, when a contracts is signed between a brewery (winery, distillery, etc.) and a wholesaler to give distribution rights to that wholesaler in that area, that contract remains legally binding in perpetuity. Forever.

(There is an escape hatch, however, from 'forever'. A contract can be purchased or sold for a mutually agreeable amount, commonly the equivalent of gross sales over the period of one to three years.)

The primacy of the states in such matters — and the three-tier system itself— has been challenged in Federal court.

A Reason to Celebrate Today

On December 5, 1933, the State of Utah voted to approve the 21st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. With that vote, the 18th Amendment —ignobly known as Prohibition— was repealed, and it had once again become legal in the United States to manufacture, distribute, and sell alcoholic beverages. That remains so today, 76 years later.

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Prohibition had lasted for nearly 14 years.

Utah was the 36th out of 48 states to vote in favor, achieving the constitutionally required majority of 3/4 of the states. Ten states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii, which weren't States at the time) either rejected the Amendment or failed to vote on it.

The 18th amendment is the only amendment to have eradicated constitutional rights rather than granting them. With the adoption of the 21st Amendment, the 18th also had become the only amendment to have been wholly overturned by another.

Beer historian Bob Skilnik notes that

American voters, through state referendums, added the 21st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It was the first time in our history that a constitutional amendment was passed, not simply by the will of legislators, but instead through popular mandate, i.e., the power of the U.S. citizenry [and the only time].

Although the 21st Amendment lifted national prohibition nationally, it left open the possibility of local prohibition. It gave to the states the right to control the importation of alcohol within each state's own borders. That's why there is such a patchwork of laws dealing with the distribution of alcohol state-by-state, and sometimes county-by-county.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Recent rulings of the Supreme Court have challenged the state's exclusive control over distribution, especially in regard to the so-called three-tier system.


Take a moment today to remember American folly and to thank American sagacity. Then, enjoy your beer (or other preferred fermentable).

Didn't the enactment of the Cullen-Harrison bill on 7 April 1933 legalize beer? Well, yes and no. Go here.

Birthday in Beer: Casey Hard

With all the attention these days going to the 'rock stars' of extreme beer, it's easy to lose sight of those who may not make our beers, but bring us our beers.

Take for example, Casey Hard, the cellarman for Maxs TapHouse in Baltimore, Maryland (and, oh yes, the General Manager).

Ten years ago, Casey was a doorman, checking IDs and enforcing civility.

Since then, he has overseen the creative expansion of Max's 70 draught lines, its several hundred bottle list, and its reserve list of carefully aged beers. He is the cellarman for its cask lines, and he has been the moving force behind its 3 (soon to be 4) wildly successful annual Belgian beer fests: 72 Hours of Belgium.

In 2010, Casey will be overseeing the emporium's growth to 100 draught lines and 6 cask lines. Think of Max's as a living good beer museum —without pretense— and Casey as the (cool) docent who oversees it all.

If you're in Fells Point in Baltimore tonight, stop by Max's, buy a beer, tip your bartender, raise your glass (there will be a beer you haven't had before) and toast Casey. It's his birthday, and he's working the evening shift.

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"I can smell my beer!"

Remember those silly beer ads from a few years back in which light beer drinkers frantically ran into the streets shouting "I can't taste my beer," as Miller Lite drinkers bemusedly looked on?

It was the reverse, last night, at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington, Virginia. A fellow beer drinker exclaimed: "I can smell my beer!" December 1st was the first day of Virginia's state-wide ban on smoking in restaurants. Of course, the drinker was referring to a full-flavored beer.

All bars are covered by the ban, because in Virginia, there are no alcohol-only bars: the establishments must serve food. There are exemptions, however. For example, smoking will be allowed in

Any portion of a restaurant that is constructed in a manner that the area where smoking is permitted is structurally separated from the non-smoking areas of the restaurant and separately vented to prevent the recirculation of air from the smoking area to the non-smoking area. At least one public entrance must be into an area where smoking is not permitted.

Private clubs, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), are exempt. Establishments such as bowling alleys that prepare snack food could simply stop, and thus become exempt from the ban.

• More information here.
• Libertarians are not so sanguine about the mandated ban: here