National Bootleggers Day

National Bootleggers Day - Ep17 - Show Notes

Today’s featured holiday is,.National Bootlegger Day.

We as a society have a love / hate relationship with alcohol.
Descriptive terms range from “Nectar of the gods” to “Demon
Rum”.

So how did National Bootlegger’s Day come to be?

January 17 is the birthday of famed criminal and bootlegger Al
Capone, and Templeton Rye Whiskey.

In the wake of Prohibition in the early 1920s, a number of
residents of a small town in Iowa became outlaws. They produced a
smooth tasting, high quality whiskey called Templeton Rye.
Templeton, Iowa, a tiny town of 350 became a hotbed of whiskey
distilling, producing a product known as, “The Good Stuff”.

The term “bootlegger” was born in the 1880s, when midwestern
traders would hide flasks of liquor in their boot top when they met
with Native Americans to conduct business.

After the passage of the 18th Constitutional amendment outlawing
the brewing, transportation, and sale of alcohol in 1920, the term
was used to describe people who transported alcohol into the U.S.
from Canada and Mexico, or who brewed and sold alcohol within the
Country.

Millions of illicit dollars went into the pockets of organized
crime figures such as Al Capone and local of distillers who
supplied speakeasies and every day people across the U.S.

The 1920s, known as the Roaring 20s, were years of excess. The
stock market was on fire. Money flowed and so did the whiskey.
People thought the party would go on forever.

By the time Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the party was over.
The Roaring 20s had become a whimpering whine barely audible. The
stock market had imploded and the wild whiskey business was
experiencing a longterm horrendous hangover.

With the return of legally distilled spirits, the illicit rich
profits evaporated. The only things remaining were the memories of
a bygone time that would never be repeated during the lives of
people caught up in the mania.

What about that little Templeton, Iowa town and the rye whiskey
produced by some of its residents?

The tradition of brewing excellence continues to this very day. As
a matter of fact, devotes of Templeton Rye, still known as, “The
Good Stuff, have their own group called the Bootleggers
Society.

To learn more about those halcyon bygone days and the happenings of
today, visit www.TempletonRye.com and click the “Bootleggers
Society” tab.

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social media. They will thank you for the gift.

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This is your host, Stephen Carter, reminding you, this day is
special, and so are you. Have fun, smile, and - if you’re over 21
and have a taste for, “The Good Stuff”, enjoy a taste of Templeton
Rye Whiskey and let your imagination wander back in time to the
bygone days of the Roaring 20s.