Prohibition Archives : TRAVEL/FOOD

Buzzard’s Roost Celebrates Prohibition Repeal Day with a Barrel Roll and a New 8-Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon

Like meeting with friends for drinks? Enjoy toasting the New Year with a glass of Champagne or order a Margarita while sitting by the pool on a hot summer day?

If so, you owe a big thanks to Repeal Day. It was a big deal on December 5, 1933 when the 21^st Ammendent to the Constitution was ratified, making it legal to drink again. People came out into the streets to celebrate when the news made headlines and was broadcast on the radio.

It had been more than a decade when America went dry on January 17, 1920 with the passage of the Volstead Act, outlawing the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the U.S. Almost immediately the conseuqnces were dire. Before Prohibition forced thousands of people out of work, 89 distilleries lined Main Street in downtown Louisville. Poof, those jobs were gone.

Not many people were for the law even at the beginning and its appeal lessened with each passing year.

According to the Mob History Museum website, as early as 1922, 40 percent of people polled by Literary Digest magazine were for modifying the National Prohibition Act (regulating alcohol) and 20 percent backed repealing the 18th Amendment. In 1926, 81 percent of people polled by the Newspaper Enterprise Association favored modifying the Prohibition statute or outright repeal of the amendment. Indeed, as time went on, the only people who really really liked Prohibition besides the most dedicated teetotaler were guys like Al Capone who was earning as much as $60 million to as high as $100 million a year from bootlegging. All that money was corrupt and dangerous with violent gang murders including the famous Valentine’s Day Massacre.

So why isn’t Repeal Day on everyone’s calendar? Afterall, both National Pfeffernuesse Day (pfeffermuesses, in case you don’t know, are a type of German cookie) and National Fried Shrimp Day are among the many rather strange holidyays that are national holidays. But Repeal Day has faded into obscurity.

At least in most cities throughout the U.S.

But in Louisville, where bourbon is king, Repeal Day is being celebrated.

Buzzard’s Roost Sipping Whiskey is literally rolling out the barrel to celebrate the 91^th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.

Buzzard’s Roost also is raising a glass to Repeal with the release of a new single-barrel Founders 8-Year-Old Bourbon on Thursday, Dec. 5

When & Thursday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m.

Where Barrel Roll kicks off at Buzzard’s Roost, 624 W. Main Stt at 6^th St.

Who Buzzard’s Roost Co-founders Jason Brauner and Judy Hollis Jones and Lead Distiller Ethan Spalding will lead the barrel-roll parade down
Main Street.

Hot Sauce Brass Band will lead a second line for all barrel roll participants.

Back at the Buzzard’s Roost Tasting Room & Distillery, tastes of the new
Founders 8- Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon will be available and the bar will be open.

Buzzard’s Roost Founders; 8-Year-Old Single Barrel Bourbon

115.6 Proof
Available only at the Buzzard’s Roost Tasting Room & Distillery ($150 per bottle)

Visuals Judy and Jason leading the barrel roll down Main Street, followed by the
Hot Sauce Brass Band and bar-towel-waving crowd

The Buzzard’s Roost team will be dressed in 1920s Prohibition-era garb, with plenty of flapper dresses, fringe and bow ties and bowler hats!

Jason Brauner and Ethan Spalding rolling the barrel down the sidewalk
and across the street

‘Some Like It Hot’ sizzles at Cadillac Palace Theatre

Chicago Palace Theatre, Entertainment, Theater

By Eloise Marie Valadez

Fans of large scale blockbuster musicals, whether they’re on stage or screen, will want to secure a ticket to a hot show heating up The Windy City’s theater scene.

“Some Like It Hot” is currently gracing the stage at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre. The musical continues to Nov. 3.

The production, which is set in Chicago during Prohibition, is based on the classic comedic 1959 film “Some Like It Hot” which starred Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe.

Directed by Academy Award winner Billy Wilder (“Sunset Boulevard” and “Double Indemnity,” the romantic comedy/musical tells the tale of two musicians who are chased down by members of The Mob after they witness a gangster crime. Dressing up as women to join an all-girl band, the musicians flee the city as a variety of crazy antics, impersonations and other mayhem surround them.

The production is a winner on many levels. From the fast-paced humor to the powerful dance numbers and engaging tunes, this show gets a thumbs up for energy and for pure entertainment from start to finish.

Matt Loehr as Joe/Josephine and Tavis Cordell as Jerry/Daphne offer strong performances as the musicians on the run. Both are fine comedic actors with dynamic song and dance skills. Also offering a standout performance in the show is Leandra Ellis-Gaston as Sugar.

Among highlighted musical numbers in “Some Like It Hot” are “I’m California Bound,” “Take It Up A Step,” “Some Like It Hot,” “Fly, Mariposa, Fly” and “Tip Tap Trouble.”

Attendees of this show won’t be disappointed. Plan to snap up a ticket before it leaves town.

FYI: “Some Like It Hot” runs to Nov. 3 at The Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. Tickets range from $30 to $125. Visit BroadwayInChicago.com.

Sidebar headline: Spotlight on Matt Loehr of “Some Like It Hot”

Actor Matt Loehr has been enjoying his work in the touring production of “Some Like It Hot.” The show continues to Nov. 3 at The Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago.

“It’s an absolute dream come true,” Loehr said, about his role as Joe/Josephine in the musical.

In the role, Loehr has the opportunity to show off his acting, singing and dancing skills.

“It’s a job that has everything. And I’m a performer in musical theater who likes to do everything, Loehr said about the triple threats of acting, singing and dancing.

The role, which is a highly physical one, he said, can be “a lot on the body and the brain.”

Loehr said he saw the classic film “Some Like It Hot” for the first time in his twenties and then “rewatched” it prior to auditioning for the live production.

The actor, who said he grew listening to all types of music, has long been interested in the entertainment field and is “grateful” to be working in the industry.

Loehr hopes audience members are truly entertained by the show and can leave their lives behind for a few hours and “have a good time.”

For more information on the musical, visit BroadwayInChicago.com.

For more things to do in Chicago, visit Choose Chicago.

About Guest Blogger Eloise Marie Valadez

Travel/Food is pleased to welcome guest blogger Eloise Marie Valadez who will be frequenting contributing to our site. Eloise is a professional journalist/writer and editor with four decades of experience covering the arts, entertainment, and culinary industries. A native of Chicago, she has a passion for the written word.

Lost Recipes of Prohibition

Cocktail Recipes, Prohibition

When I was writing my book, A Jazz Age Murder in Northwest Indiana (History Press), about Nettie Diamond, a wealthy widow and pharmacist who was murdered by her fifth husband, a much younger bootlegger named Harry in Indiana Harbor on Valentine’s Day 1923, described by the Chicago Tribune as a ‘juicy . . . page-turner’ of a true crime story about gold digging, adultery, and a slaying on Valentine’s Day, 1923, I was intrigued about how easy it was to get booze back then. And one way, was for drugstores to get a permit during Prohibition to buy medicinal alcohol and distribute it.

That may be why loved Lost Recipes of Prohibition: Notes from A Bootlegger’s Manual by Matthew Rowley (The Countryman Press 2015; $27.95). Nominated for a James Beard Award, it contains more than 100 secret and forgotten formulas for illicit booze

Rowley, who describes himself as specializing in folk distilling and the manufacture and distribution of illicit spirits, was given an old book titled The Candle and The Flame, The Work of George Sylvester Viereck. The interior didn’t contain any poems by Viereck, a popular poet up until his pro-German sensibilities during World War I made him a pariah in the U.S. Instead, the book’s once blank pages contained a plethora of handwritten distilled spirit recipes procured and preserved by a New York pharmacist named Victor Alfred Lyon.

As for Harry, he wasn’t supposed to sell alcohol for non-medicinal purposes like he did—by adding real spirit company labels to his own bottles…but that was Harry who also. According to Rowley, many pharmacists made alcoholic concoctions to help ailing (or just plain thirsty) customers and many distilleries were allowed to continue to operate to provide product. Rowley points out that during Prohibition, the sale of sacramental wine went sky high as people suddenly became much more religious.

Lyon’s recipes were collected from a variety of sources and at the time he was gathering them, some were a century or so old. Rowley organized the recipes in chapters such as Absinthe, Cordials, and Bitters and Gin; Compounding Spirits and Gin, Whiskey and Rum.

Less a cookbook than a history and how-to of spirit making, Rowley does include many of Lyon’s recipes from a simple cocktail that silent screen movie star Mary Pickford enjoyed to the complex (and supersized) such as one for Rumessenz which calls for gallons of ingredients and was used by wholesalers, barkeepers, importers and exporters to make an essence of rum they could use for adding the aroma and tastes of rum to a batch of plain alcohol creating a higher profit margin.

That’s similar to what Harry Diamond did as well and at his trial he told the court he made about $20,000 a month from bootlegging. And that was in 1923 dollars.

Harry went to the electric chair so he didn’t have much time to enjoy his earnings. But in celebration of the newly found recipes of Prohibition, mix up a drink or two and enjoy!

Lanizet: Sour Mash Cajun Anisette

3 quarts water
25 ounces sugar
½ teaspoon anise oil
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon red food coloring
3 cups bourbon or Tennessee whiskey
5 to 7 pounds ice

Pour 1 ½ quarts of the water in a medium stockpot. Note the depth of the liquid. Later, you will boil the syrup to this height. For now, pour in the remaining water and all the sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Lower the heat and simmer until the liquid reduces to 1 ½ quarts, 50 or 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.

While the syrup is simmering, sterilize five new or well-scrubbed 1-pint canning jars in a deep pot or canning pot. Leave the jars in the hot water until you’re ready to use them. Wash and boil the lids and rings according to the manufacturer’s directions.

When the syrup reaches that 1.5-lquart mark, turn off the heat and remove the pot from heat. Stir in the anise oil, vanilla and food coloring until thoroughly mixed, then stir in the whiskey. Remove the jars from their hot water bath with tongs. Place the jars (don’t touch with your bare hands) on a wooden surface or folded towels and immediately pour the crimson liquid into the jars up to 1⁄2 inch from the tops. Wipe any dribbles or spills from the rims with a clean, damp cloth and place hot lids on top with sealing compound down; screw on the metal rings firmly but not too tightly.

Line your sink with a damp dish towel; it will prevent the hot jars from breaking when they touch the cool surface. Immediately place the jars upright in the sink, then slowly fill it with cool tap water so it covers the jars. As the jars cool, you’ll hear a series of metallic pops and pings; that’s a vacuum forming in each jar. When the jars are cool to the touch, after 5 to 10 minutes, place them upright in a tub of ice, with ice to top off the jars, to cool the anisette as quickly as possible. Once contents of jars are well chilled, about 1 hour, remove the jars from the ice. Label and date the jars, then store upright in a cool, dark place.

Yield: 5 pints

From Lost Recipes of Prohibition.

The Ideal Bartender, a 1917 classic by Tom Bullock is now an immersive experience in Louisville

Beverages, Bitters, Bourbon, Cocktails, Culture, Historic Restaurants, History, Recipes

Evan Williams, Kentucky’s first distillery, is hosting “The Ideal Bartender Experience” as part of Louisville’s celebration of African American history. The distillery was founded by Evan Williams in 1783, but the experience takes visitors no further back then to the final days of Prohibition and into a secret speakeasy at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, a multi-million dollar artisanal distillery, immersive tourism destination and retail location on Louisville’s Whiskey Row.

The Ideal Bartender Experience, separate from the other tours available at Evan Williams, introduces guests to Tom Bullock, the first Black American to write and publish a cocktail book. Written in 1917, “The Ideal Bartender” was almost lost to history despite Bullock’s fame at the time.

Greg Boehm, owner of the New York-based company, Cocktail Kingdom, has close to 4000 books about cocktails in what is said to be the largest collection in the world. Consider the collection research as Cocktail Kingdom manufactures professional barware, reprints vintage bar literature, and a full spectrum of professional and custom barware, artisan bitters and syrups.

According to Go to Louisville, several years ago Boehm was contacted by a woman wanting to sell a first edition of The Ideal Bartender. It was the one book Boehm was missing and so he jumped at the chance to own an original copy.

“In the cocktail bar industry, unfortunately, the African American community is not very well represented at all. It is just not a diverse group, so anything that lends diversity to bartending is a good thing,” Boehm explained. “In addition, The Ideal Bartender is a little snapshot of what people were drinking pre-Prohibition, and unlike a lot of cocktail books, none of these recipes were cribbed from anyone else. This is a completely unique cocktail book.”

Bullock, a stately looking man, was known to make some powerful — and according to article in The New York Times — addictive cocktails. He was also reputed to be a great conversationalist and to have a wide range of knowledge on current events–which was expected of a bartender working in rarified places.

Though Bullock was known to the wealthy elite who sipped his cocktails he was relatively unknown until former President Theodore Roosevelt filed a libel suit in 1913 against a newspaper claiming he was not only a liar but also frequently drunk. In his testimony, Roosevelt said that one of the few drinks he’d ever had — and that didn’t happen until he had left the White House — was a mint julep mixed for him by Bullock at the St. Louis Country Club. And, Roosevelt told the court, he took only a sip or two.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called this out as a lie, printing an editorial opining, “Who was ever known to drink just a part of one of Tom’s juleps? Tom, than whom there is no greater mixologist of any race, was taught the art of the julep by no less than Marse Lilburn G. McNair, the father of the julep. Are the Colonel’s powers of restraint altogether transcendent?”

Marse, for those who don’t know their Missouri or mint julep history, was the grandson of Alexander McNair, the first governor of the state.

Whether he drank more than half of the mint julep or not, Roosevelt won his suit, and Bullock became famous for his bartending skills. Patrons who loved his cocktails included George Herbert Walker — you know the last name, as he was the grandfather and great-grandfather of our 41st and 43rd U.S. presidents, and August Busch Sr., CEO of Anheuser-Busch, who each helped get the book published.

“I have known the author for many years, and it is a privilege to be permitted to testify to his qualifications…” In all that time I doubt that he has erred in event one of his concoctions,” wrote Bush in the intro to Bullock’s book.

Bullock was quite creative when it came to drinks, creating a version of an Old Fashioned easily transported in a flask for those attending the matches at the St. Louis Polo Club.

The 45-minute tour at The Ideal Bartender Experience includes a taste of three premium whiskeys as well as a mint julep made from one of Bullock’s recipes, is one of several fascinating immersive experiences taking place in Louisville.

Tom Bullock’s Old Fashioned for the Polo Field

Fill one eight ounce flask with 100 proof bourbon near to the top. Shove four raw sugar cubes or pour four raw sugar packets into the mouth of your flask, dash eight times with Angostura. Shake the flask vigorously. Pour the contents over the largest ice cubes you can find.

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