For the longest time, I've been meaning to do a story on the
"3-Tier system" which affects the distribution of alcoholic beverages in
the United States - and is the very reason that some tadty beverages are not
available in your state - while they are available right across the
state boundary.
Luckily enough, I was just sent a review copy of a new book by Noah Rothbaum called The Business of Spirits. The book is a great introduction to the byzantine world of Spirits and how they are marketed in the U.S.
In the book, Noah talks to a number of notable folks in the industry and includes backgrounds on many of the personalities and iconic products.
In the first chapter, Noah has an excellent overview of the origin
of our 3-tier system. This chapter immediately drew me in to the book. I thought: "Why not just get Noah to do an excerpt of the book for us?"
Below is the except from that first chapter of his book.
America’s Confusing Three-Tier System and the Legacy of Prohibition.
An excerpt from the new book The Business of Spirits by Noah Rothbaum
To get to the storeroom of New
York’s legendary ‘21’ Club, cross the dining room with its
constellation of corporate and sports memorabilia, slip through the
bustling kitchen, and head down a flight of steep stairs. There, in an
unremarkable brick-lined hallway, is a pencil-sized hole. Insert an
18-inch piece of wire into it, and like something out of an Indiana
Jones movie, a two-and-a-half-ton hidden door swings open, revealing a
fine spirits and wine collection. This hidden storeroom was built
during Prohibition and is actually below the adjoining townhouse (19
West 52nd Street). It was constructed so the owners could truthfully
say that there wasn’t any alcohol on the premises if the restaurant
was raided.
But this quaint relic of Prohibition isn’t the only legacy of that
era, which still haunts the United States. Almost 75 years after
Congress overwhelmingly passed the 21st Amendment ending the 13-year
period of Prohibition, the U.S. is still trying to figure out how to
regulate the sale of alcohol. This is particularly troublesome given
the fact that the spirits industry is now booming and sales are
increasing every year.
The problem stems from the fact that the 21st Amendment only repealed
the 18th Amendment; it didn’t spell out exactly how alcohol sales
would be controlled. Congress left those decisions up to the
individual states. As a result, the United States has an almost
incomprehensible patchwork of alcohol-related laws that vary greatly
from state to state and sometimes county to county. No two states have
exactly the same laws regarding alcohol.
Ian Buxton & Neil Wilson want to offer The Scotch Blog readers a 10% on either (or both) of the 2 published Classic Expressions books:
is available and I'm not selling it - it's available through Amazon.
