Celebrate Repeal Day!

Cheers To 75 Years Of Drinking Legally

by Robert Smith

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Check out our photo gallery of archival images from the Prohibition Era.

 

 

 

Courtesy of Dewar's Scotch Whisky

One of the ads Dewar's Scotch Whisky put out calling for the celebration of Repeal Day.

 

 

Day to Day, December 5, 2008 · Unemployment is rising and banks are disappearing. It may feel like 1929 all over again, but there's a crucial difference between the Great Depression and our fiscal crisis: We modern folk can legally drown our sorrows in alcohol.

It may not be much solace, but on Friday, Dec. 5, you can spend your few remaining dollars on a cocktail to toast the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition and the legalization of alcohol.

Just past the stroke of midnight in Brooklyn, history-conscious revelers were already getting their drink on. At the Royale Bar, the bartender lined up shot glasses for the house and liberally poured the whiskey.

"To the end of Prohibition!" shouted Trevor Bataglia to the cheers of his friends.

And how does one properly observe Repeal Day? Bataglia explains that you think St. Patrick's Day, then take it one step further.

Bars and alcohol companies would be happy to see another drunken holiday on the calendar. And why not the date when the 21st Amendment ending Prohibition was ratified back in 1933? Besides, Cinco de December has a nice ring to it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97853166