“The Business of Beer” (Jan. 18), with its fascinating history of the craft and the more recent brewpubs and microbreweries, triggered fond memories of growing up on Chicago’s Southwest Side during the 1920s, shortly after Prohibition became the holocaust of saloonkeepers everywhere. Every second home on our block of two-flats had its own microbrewery–Ma and Pa making their own home brew. There was always room in the attic for at least 20 or more bottles of this brew fermenting right in the bottle. And many were the times when the stillness of the hot night was shattered by one or more of the bottles exploding.
Surprisingly enough, a great many of these home brewers became really adept at this trade, so much so that when the sale of beer was legalized in 1933, many of us raised on the stuff went back to it after our first taste of the insipid 3.2 percent beer, the only kind allowed to be brewed, and the taste of which prompted Mike Royko, years later, to implore brewers to “run it through the horse again. . . .”
Ah, memories! Now, where the devil did I put that just-opened brew? Nudging a memory to go back 70 years is turning out to be thirsty work!
Ed Chensky, Riverside
Prohibition did not become federal law in 1919, as Birte Meier’s article states. National Prohibition became law on Jan. 16, 1920. The Illinois Search and Seizure Act ended the use of malted beverages with an alcoholic content of more than one-half of 1 percent on July 1, 1919. This ended the business of beer in Chicago six months before national Prohibition became effective.
Dion O’Banion (NOT Dean O’Bannion) knew that a raid had been scheduled at the Sieben Brewery (at the time operating as the George Frank Brewery) for the early morning of May 19, 1924, and enticed Johnny Torrio to be there when it took place. O’Banion had hoped that a second federal conviction for violations of the National Prohibition Act would put the unsuspecting Torrio behind bars while O’Banion took over Torrio’s lucrative beer territories.
Later realizing he had been set up, Torrio ordered the assassination of O’Banion. A later counterattack by O’Banion’s gang on Torrio (though he did survive) led to the ascension of Al Capone as Chicago crime lord. That is the real significance of the Sieben raid.
Bob Skilnik, Plainfield
(Editor’s note: Skilnik is a staff writer for the American Breweriana Journal. To clarify our story, the 18th Amendment bringing about Prohibition went into effect on Jan. 16, 1920, exactly one year after ratification by two-thirds of the then 48 states. Our apologies for the incorrect spelling of Dion O’Banion’s name.)
Your recent article, “The Business of Beer,” was an engaging chronicle of Chicago’s colorful beer-brewing history. But I had hoped the writer would detail the breadth of new microbreweries that have opened throughout the Chicagoland area. Historically, the Chicago press has ignored the brewpubs and breweries outside of the city.
As president of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, I believe the variety of beers and brewpubs outside of Chicago proper should be offered to your readers so they can experience what a booming market Chicago has become.
Bill Sugars, Libertyville Brewing Co.
LOOKING FOR LOVE
Patricia Murphy did an excellent job explaining the technical ins and outs of the dateline process (“Love in the Air,” Feb. 8), and the accompanying article describing her own experiences was really touching! Thank you for reminding us that we don’t have to be “desperate” to use one of these services; we just have to be searching for the love of our life.
Julie Schmidt, Palatine
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