Prohibition and Beer Bans

Prohibition in the USA: 1920 to 1933

The temperance movement had grown strong in the United States during the 19th century. Churches, women's associations, and the Anti-Saloon League campaigned against alcohol, which they blamed for poverty and family violence. During World War I, another motive emerged: many large breweries were owned by families of German descent, and beer suddenly came to be seen as the enemy's drink.

The 18th Amendment, ratified in 1919, banned the manufacture, sale, and transport of intoxicating liquors. The Volstead Act set the limit at 0.5 percent alcohol. On January 17, 1920, Prohibition took effect. Breweries either closed down or scraped by with malt syrup, ice cream, soda, and low-alcohol near beer.

The outcome is well known: bootlegging, speakeasies, and organized crime flourished. In April 1933, Congress once again permitted beer with up to 3.2 percent alcohol by weight. On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition entirely.

What Prohibition Did to American Beer

Of the many hundreds of breweries operating before 1920, only a fraction reopened after 1933. The survivors were mostly large operations that came to dominate the market through mass production, bottles, and later cans. A beer that would appeal to as many people as possible—pale, mild, and often brewed with corn or rice—won out. The diversity of the pre-war era was gone. It wasn't until the craft movement, starting in the late 1970s, that it returned.

To this day, US states regulate alcohol very differently, because the 21st Amendment explicitly left jurisdiction with them. Some counties are still dry, meaning no alcohol sales at all, and in many states breweries must sell their beer through a wholesaler instead of delivering it directly to shops and restaurants. This three-tier system of brewer, wholesaler, and retailer is likewise a legacy of Prohibition, one that long hampered the young craft scene.

Iceland: 74 Years Without Strong Beer

In a 1908 referendum, Icelanders voted for a complete alcohol ban, which took effect on January 1, 1915. It crumbled quickly. Spain threatened to stop buying Icelandic fish unless Iceland imported Spanish wine; from 1922 wine was allowed again. Following a 1935 referendum, spirits followed.

Only beer above 2.25 percent alcohol remained banned. The reasoning: beer was cheap and easy to drink, and therefore especially likely to lure young people into regular consumption. The beer ban finally fell on March 1, 1989. The day is still celebrated in Iceland as Bjórdagurinn, Beer Day.

Finland: Prohibition and State Monopoly

Finland's parliament passed an alcohol ban as early as 1907, which took effect on June 1, 1919. Here too, smuggling and moonshining flourished. In a referendum on December 29–30, 1931, 70.5 percent voted for repeal, though turnout was just 44.4 percent.

On April 5, 1932, the state enterprise Alko opened its stores. Instead of a ban, there was now a monopoly: the state controls the sale of stronger drinks. A modified version of this model still exists today in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Lighter beer is available there in supermarkets, while stronger beer can only be bought at monopoly stores.

What the Beer Bans Have in Common

Whether in the US, Iceland, or Finland, these bans arose from genuine social concerns about health, poverty, and violence, and each one failed because a large share of the population wanted to keep drinking and was willing to turn to smugglers, moonshiners, and illegal taverns to do so. What has remained almost everywhere are strict rules on sales, advertising, and taxes, which states still use today to try to curb alcohol consumption without banning it outright.

For beer itself, the bans had a surprising side effect: they favored light, low-alcohol styles that were often exempt from the ban. Iceland's light beer under 2.25 percent and America's near beer are distant ancestors of the alcohol-free beers that now hold a growing share of the German market.