Originally published April 6, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified April 6, 2007 at 12:31 PM
Retail Report
Sudsy tribute to prohibition anniversary
Beer drinkers have more to celebrate this weekend than usual. It was 74 years ago on Saturday that the federal prohibition on beer was repealed...
![]() |
Seattle Times business reporters
Beer drinkers have more to celebrate this weekend than usual.
It was 74 years ago on Saturday that the federal prohibition on beer was repealed.
For eight months, beer and light wine — drinks with 3.2 percent alcohol or less — were the country's only legal alcoholic beverages. In December 1933, people were legally free to drink stronger forms of alcohol.
Elysian Brewing is celebrating with a bathtub full of foaming ale in the dining room of its Capitol Hill brewpub.
The clawfoot display is a play on bathtub gin, the often foul-tasting liquor brewed in large quantities — maybe even in bathtubs — during Prohibition.
Still, the Elysian spectacle is not just for fun.
"Part of the reason is to call attention to the fact that there's a very strong neo-prohibition movement," said Elysian co-owner Dick Cantwell.
He points to occasional efforts to lower the legal blood-alcohol level for driving, sometimes as low as 0.02 percent from 0.08 percent in Washington, and the fact that five states — Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah — still ban home brewing.
With more than 80 breweries, Washington has the third most of any state, after California and Colorado, according to the Brewers Association in Boulder.
Each brewing site is counted separately, so that Elysian has three — on Capitol Hill, near Green Lake and one near Safeco Field.
Craft brewers have crawled back from their heyday before Prohibition, which became federal law in 1920. Some states, including Washington, banned many alcoholic beverages years earlier.
Because of Prohibition, "the biggest brewery owner became Al Capone," said Charles Finkel, who owns Pike Brewing near Pike Place Market with his wife, Rose Ann.
![]()
"It took away legitimate business people and replaced them with criminals."
A few years after Prohibition was lifted, the country had only 750 breweries.
Now it has some 1,500, including big players like Anheuser-Busch and regional brewers like Redhook Ale Brewery in Woodinville, which last week posted its first annual profit in a decade.
For a small beer museum Finkel is creating at Pike Brewing, he recently paid $30 on eBay for a replica of Carrie Nation's hatchet.
Nation was a temperance leader at the turn of the last century known for hacking up taverns.
Pike Brewing will celebrate the legalization of beer drinking on Saturday with half-price beer samplers and a discount on "Carrie Nation's Cocktails" — better known as fruit juice.
— Melissa Allison
Seattle Times researcher Gene Balk contributed to this report.
TidbitsJones Soda has hired Peter Burns as its new senior executive vice president of sales and marketing. Burns had been vice president of sales for Izze Beverage, where he oversaw sales of $20 million in less than two years. — MA
Seattle's Finest Exotic Meats , which sells everything from buffalo to alligator and wild boar meat, is closing its Bellevue location and moving to San Antonio, where it already has a store. Area customers can still buy from the company — now called Exotic Meats USA — online and over the phone. — MA
Amazon.com this week introduced a new contest to find the "Harry-est town in the U.S.A." And no, this has nothing to do with Squatch, the Sonics mascot. The honorable distinction goes to the town that pre-orders the most copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Amazon "on a per capital basis." The winning town receives a $5,000 gift certificate for a local charitable organization. According to the latest rankings, the Harry-est town is Falls Church, Va. Washington ranked 3rd (Gig Harbor), 7th (Issaquah) and 10th (Snohomish). Olympia rounded out the top 100, but the city of Seattle was nowhere on the list. Muggles, we are. — MSO
Starbucks and Mikhail Gorbachev's environmental organization, Green Cross International — known in this country as Global Green USA — have partnered to create Planet Green Game, an online video game to educate people about climate change. Players explore a fictional city where and learn about fuel efficiency. To play, go to www.PlanetGreenGame.com. — MA
Washington Wine launches a contest today to name its new 12,000-square-foot winery scheduled to open next year in Woodinville. Until now, the company has produced only private label wines for a few clients. The contest is being held at www.WashingtonWineCompany.com, and the winner will receive two cases of the winery's best wine each year for a decade, along with an annual wine tasting hosted by the winemaking staff. — MA
Retail Report appears Fridays. Melissa Allison covers the food and beverage industry. She can be reached at 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. Monica Soto Ouchi covers goods, services and online retail. She can be reached at 206-515-5632 or msoto@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Plasma and LED beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
Despite latest uptick, second half of year doesn't look that promising
Q&A : Right cable can work with old camcorder
Summer gas prices should stay put unless ...
Homebodies fuel boob-tube boomlet

Tribal Fireworks Rivalry
The Fourth of July marks a long-standing fireworks rivalry between two clans of a Native-American family in Suquamish.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Tax tips for new independent professionals
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new compact car? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
nwhomes

Find a new home or condo that fits your lifestyle.
Search New Developments
Builder Directory
- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Palin resignation leaves questions on 2012 run
- Fire sends service providers scrambling
- 6 jurors swear a cop's wife swayed panel in Kent civil rights case
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Bicyclist killed Wednesday night is identified
- Mariners Blog | Mariners, Angels have serious trade deadline advantage over Texas Rangers
- Powerful sedative found in Michael Jackson's home
- Woman accuses Sounders FC player Nate Jaqua of sexual assault, seeks more than $10 million
- It's a blank slate now but will the Othello station fulfill plans for high-density shopping area?
- Palin resigning as Alaska governor
553 - Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox: 07/04 game thread
342 - Yakima teacher reprimanded for backpack feces
87 - Recession wipes out 9 years of job gains
87 - 6 jurors swear a cop's wife swayed panel in Kent civil rights case
73 - Obama's practical immigration-reform approach: Legalize status of illegal workers
67 - Global warming may impede eelgrass growth
66 - Woman accuses Sounders FC player Nate Jaqua of sexual assault, seeks more than $10 million
56 - Eyman initiative looks likely for November ballot
55 - Anti-illegal immigration initiative falls short
52
- Going to Gas Works Park? Good luck
- Liven up Fremont's attempt to break a world record for a 'zombie walk'
- Lynnwood's City Bank gets tighter scrutiny
- Retail Report | Pet-supply shops grow while other retailers fade
- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Fire sends service providers scrambling
- Oregon woman obsessed with rabbits back in jail
- Palin resignation leaves questions on 2012 run
- Police: Teens mishear sex screams, beat man
- Recession wipes out 9 years of job gains









