Archive Gallery: The Science of Prohibition, 1919-1933

At the dawn of the Prohibition, brewers were faced with the uneasy task of transitioning into new enterprises. "Machinery costing millions will have to go to the scrap-heap unless ingenuity, guided by the expert advice of the industrial chemist, can find a way out," we wrote, just one month after the Eighteenth Amendment's ratification. The task was daunting and expensive, but not impossible. With the help of chemists, and the purchase of mechanisms such as vacuum pans, breweries could modify their beer cookers into equipment used to convert barley into malt sugar. Beer-brewing machines were also perfect for manufacturing soft drinks, which surged in popularity after the Prohibition went into effect in 1920.

Read the full story in "What Will Breweries Do?"