Brew Skies Happy Hour

14: Yellow, Watery, and Flavorless - Part 2: The Long, Sweet, and Sugary Shadow of Prohibition

Bret Kollmann Baker and Mike Morgan

Prohibition radically altered the American palate. After more than a decade of using fruit juice and other sweeteners to make bad hooch and bathtub gin drinkable, Americans had no taste for anything bitter or sour. People wanted things that were sweet and crisp which isn’t good for beer. For the love of god, Budweiser’s pre-Prohibition beer was now “too bitter” for the American public! Beer sales and production went into a nose dive when something funny happened: World War II.