Imagine, if you can, a time when heading to the bar for a nip of bourbon or a shot of tequila was illegal. Imagine happy hours being held in darkened basements, as you and your buddies choked down some bootleg hooch. There’s something to be said for the “good ole days” but we will take our libations seated at a well lit bar, served in a glass with a fancy rim, thank you.
All of-age Charleston denizens, celebrate the right to drink, legally, in a public space at Prohibition’s fourth anniversary party and Repeal Day fest starting tonight at 6 p.m.
Congress passed the National Prohibition Act in Oct. 1919, and for many scandalous Al Capone-esque years, lushes were forced to deal in sketchy back alleys for the good stuff. Tonight, we celebrate the 84th anniversary of the ratification (fully ratified Dec. 5 1933) of the 21st Amendment, which ended Prohibition.
To get in the spirit, the King Street spot hosts roaring ’20s band New Southern Jazzmen and the Gino Castillo Cuban Jazz Band and serves up special Redemption Rye cocktails, Budweiser’s 1933 Repeal Day amber lager, passed hors d’oeuvres, and free oysters (from 6 to 8 p.m.).
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