National Geographic Traveller UK 03.2020

1869

The National Prohibition Party

is founded, promoting various

social reforms

1933

After waning support,

Prohibition is oficially repealed

with the 21st Amendment

1920 s

Prohibition begins and a black

market around illegal booze

(known as ‘moonshine’) booms

1919

The manufacture, transport

and sale of ‘intoxicating

liquors’ in the US is prohibited

1881

Kansas becomes the irst state

to enshrine Prohibition as part

of its constitution

A century after history’s biggest

booze ban, there are still plenty

of ways to discover the illicit

allure of the Prohibition era

DRINK TO THAT

Prohibition

IMAGES: GETTY

The tour

Synonymous with Al Capone’s

dirty dealings, Chicago was a

hub of impropriety in the 1920s.

Vestiges of its Prohibition days

are everywhere — set of on

a Prohibition Gangster Tour

with author and historian John

Binder. choosechicago.com

The bar

Head to The Back Room in New

York, one of only two original

speakeasies in the city still

around today, and follow in

the footsteps of mobsters and

molls who’d gather here for

so-called ‘business meetings’.

backroomnyc.com

The drink

If there’s one drink to deine

the decade, there’s a case for

whisky. It was the only drink

the government allowed at the

time, prescribed for ‘medicinal

purposes’. Try one on at the slick,

21 Club, a former 1920s speakeasy

in Manhattan. 21club.com

The museum

‘Good behaviour rarely makes

history’ says the American

Prohibition Museum in

Savannah, Georgia. Call in

at the museum’s upscale

speakeasy for cocktail classes

to make your own concoctions.

americanprohibitionmuseum.com

Raise a glass — this year marks 100 years since

Prohibition, when the United States enforced a nation-

wide ban on the production and sale of alcohol in an

attempt to steer the population back to Protestant

values. America’s political and moral landscapes were

entirely reshaped by those 13 years of state-enforced

abstinence and while Prohibition might have ultimately

failed to curtail nationwide drinking, it built cultural

pillars that endure today: from not-so-temperate tales

that inspired novels and ilms to the secret world of

speakeasies. And today, a century on from the dry old

days, travellers can ind no shortage of spots to soak up

the era’s long-lasting legacy. CONNOR MCGOVERN

PROHIBITION: A TIMELINE

SMART TRAVELLER

March 2020 21