In 1919, as a great flu pandemic was winding down, Minnesota’s representative in congress Andrew Volstead, helped pass a Constitutional Amendment, HR 6810, also known as prohibition. After Jan. 17, 2020 the sale of alcohol was prohibited in the United States. The Amendment wasn’t repealed by the 21st Amendment until December of 1933.
In Minnesota, the laws remained strict (3.2 beer became the norm) and it wasn’t until 2011 that breweries were legally allowed to sell pints of beer onsite. Since than, a number of small micro-breweries have opened taprooms and welcomed grateful beer drinkers. (Micro-distilleries couldn’t open cocktail rooms until 2014.)
Then, in 2020, another kind of prohibition caused by another worldwide flu epidemic, required that bars, restaurants and taprooms be closed around Minnesota. And in Minneapolis, civil unrest during the summer riots along Lake St. destroyed and damaged many beer halls. But now, a few are starting to open, with precautions such as requiring masks and social distancing.
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