Warning: After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days because then it would turn into wine.
Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
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Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#12When someone suggests a clever loophole, the response is usually “that would never work, the police and the judge will know exactly what you’re doing”. But somehow, a whole industry developed around the “do not do … detailed prohibited thing”. I guess, because it somehow worked that one time, it became memorable as an exception, while in most cases it wouldn’t fly in court.
The thing you must realize is that despite prohibition public attitude soured on it very quickly and many judges and politicians were themselves partaking in prohibited alcohol. And the situation cannot be compared with marijuana; it was on a whole different magnitude.
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#13One cool thing about the pandemic is that many countries took the opportunity to run large-scale social experiments under the guise of Covid Restrictions. I expect social scientists will be digging into this data for years to come.
One experiment in South Africa was banning the sale, or transportation, of alcohol. (Production and consumption was still allowed, just not sale or transportation.) This resulted in a marked decrease in hospital admissions, traffic accidents and domestic crimes. [1]
The ban would morph during the first year of Covid, alternately covering things like trading hours, availability in restaurants and so on. Some restrictions were more effective than others, and overall effectiveness decreased as the population got smarter about stocking up with sufficient quantities to bypass any restrictions.
Even the hint of restrictions now (such as was rumored to happen, but did not happen, when Omicron was first recognized) resulted in huge surges of sales. Generally speaking though more restrictions resulted in fewer hospital admissions.
Clearly prohibition taught us that a blanket ban on alcohol just incentivizes organized crime. So it's not like a long-term ban is useful. But the effects of lowering alcohol consumption are also clear. Balancing these two very conflicting points of view is going to be a challenge for society as we move forward. [2]
[1] Clearly not all decreases are solely because of this, less traffic means fewer accidents for example, but it's considered to be a high contributing factor.
[2] https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/547654/what-all-t...
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#14When someone suggests a clever loophole, the response is usually “that would never work, the police and the judge will know exactly what you’re doing”. But somehow, a whole industry developed around the “do not do … detailed prohibited thing”. I guess, because it somehow worked that one time, it became memorable as an exception, while in most cases it wouldn’t fly in court.
There are a number of other examples...
Like the companies selling whip cream chargers by the case of 600... You know, for the people that need to make whipped cream by the gallon at home.
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#15Similar story: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datenklo
Assembly instructions: "And now never ever connect pin x and pin y, because then you'd have a working modem, which would be illigal...
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#16Reminds me of when a friend ordered some San Pedro cactus over the internet "for religious sacrament." It included a note indicating that they ran out of the exact variety that he ordered, but they thought that he'd be very happy with the one they sent because it was stronger when used for religious purposes. (San Pedro cactus contains mescaline. It's perfectly legal to grow for ornamental purposes.)
Mushroom spores are sold online for "microscopy purposes only".
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#17When someone suggests a clever loophole, the response is usually “that would never work, the police and the judge will know exactly what you’re doing”. But somehow, a whole industry developed around the “do not do … detailed prohibited thing”. I guess, because it somehow worked that one time, it became memorable as an exception, while in most cases it wouldn’t fly in court.
There are a number of other examples... Like the companies selling whip cream chargers by the case of 600... You know, for the people that need to make whipped cream by the gallon at home.
For anyone else who was clueless, whip cream chargers are a source of nitrous oxide.
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#18I'm very curious how this tasted and I wonder why there isn't anyone selling them anymore (based on a quick Google search).
If it tasted half decent I'm curious if there could still be a market for something like this, given it seems to be able to be stored dry?
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#19Wanting to read more I found this other article with a more nuanced take and some additional information:
https://grapecollective.com/articles/prohibitions-grape-bric...
> The grape of choice for home winemakers quickly became Alicante Bouschet. Thick, tough skins helped the grape survive the cross–country journey, and it grew in large quantities
> By the end of Prohibition in 1933, other grape varietals and fruits had been ripped up and 40,000 acres of Alicante had been planted.
> “Grape bricks had a disastrous effect on the early American wine industry,” Suttner wrote in an email. Grape bricks’ place in Prohibition history is largely glossed over, but Suttner was able to learn about them through period newspaper articles and Eric Burn’s book The Spirits of America. “By encouraging the production of cheap, fast–growing grapes like Alicante Bouschet at the expense of other, slower varieties, American wineries limited themselves severely.”
Re: Wine bricks saved the U.S. wine industry during Prohibition (2015)
#20I'm very curious how this tasted and I wonder why there isn't anyone selling them anymore (based on a quick Google search). If it tasted half decent I'm curious if there could still be a market for something like this, given it seems to be able to be stored dry?
Fermenting alcohol that tastes good is not easy enough to justify a mass market product. Furthermore, why buy this when you can just buy cheap boxed wine that probably tastes much better than whatever you would get from fermenting reconstituted dry grape concentrate?