Announcer: Idaho Experience is made possible with funding from the James and Barbara Cimino Foundation, devoted to preserving the spirit of Idaho.

From Anne Voillequé and Louise Nelson.

From Judy and Steve Meyer.

The Friends of Idaho Public Television, the Idaho Public Television Endowment and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[DRINK MIXING SOUNDS] NARRATOR: On the rocks.

Neat.

Blended.

Brewed.

However it's made, it was all illegal in America a century ago.

Justin Smith, Historian: As everything played out during national prohibition, Idaho saw the same things going on here.

NARRATOR: The 18th Amendment prohibited alcohol in the United States during the roaring 1920s.

But the movement was about more than shots in a glass.

It was about representation.

JUSTIN SMITH: Women were not content to sit back and be quiet.

NARRATOR: It was about rebellion.

JUSTIN SMITH: The reality is moonshining was going on everywhere in Idaho.

NARRATOR: And it was about the nation's first reckoning with regulation gone wrong.

JEFF ANDERSON, IDAHO STATE LIQUOR DIVISION DIRECTOR: Prohibition was taking a sledgehammer when what they really needed was a scalpel.

MEREDITH SMITH, SAWTOOTH AND STE.

CHAPELLE WINEMAKER: Some laws stand the test of time and then some laws need to change with society.

NARRATOR: For the sake of celebration.

and hydration .

JUSTIN SMITH: One of the advantages of beer is it was cleaner than a lot of the water was.

NARRATOR: Here's to Idaho's Prohibition pioneers.

JUSTIN MORRIS, 100 PROOF HOSPITALITY OPERATING PARTNER: Interesting time in the history of America.

NARRATOR: The Bootleggers, on Idaho Experience.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: There's a new high-end bar in an old Idaho Falls building.

It's purposely understated for authenticity.

TASHA TAYLOR, 18 OWNER: It's a little surprise to walk down the stairs and see what's here.

NARRATOR: It's a speakeasy lounge inspired by an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

TASHA TAYLOR: It's called 18.

I came up with that name based on the 18th Amendment of Prohibition.

I thought it would be fun to do roman numerals.

Because they are a little secretive.

You have to think about what it is.

It's a portal I feel like and you escape and go to a place where you can just be yourself and relax.

And I'm sure during the time of speakeasies people looked forward to getting away from polite society.

I think they wanted to let loose and enjoy their drinks and live their lives.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: 18 is in the basement of a building constructed in the early 1900s.

A men's only club, the Oddfellows, owned it.

An undertaker conducted his morbid business downstairs, while the men practiced their secret rituals upstairs.

The newly renovated space still has the original peep holes in the doors, working ringers, [RINGER SOUND] and a trap door in the wood floor that leads to a box large enough to hold a body.

TASHA TAYLOR: I always thought that was interesting and wondered what they used it for.

It was very deliberate in the middle of the ritual room floor.

NARRATOR: The building also has tunnels.

The entrances, and the windows next to them, are now sealed shut like all tunnels under modern-day Idaho Falls.

TASHA TAYLOR: There's not a lot of information about it because most of the activities that were in the tunnel system were illegal.

NARRATOR: Historical records claim the tunnels as purposed for city utilities, but personal journals dispute that.

Other towns with nefarious underbellies share similar claims.

JUSTIN SMITH, HISTORIAN: There were places where there were tunnels for bootlegging and opium dens and things like that.

Seattle is a good example.

Boise there was an attempt to find some tunnels that failed.

Pocatello had some tunnels but they were originally for utilities.

There were no power poles running down the middle of the street.

You had to get water to the different businesses.

And so there were utility tunnels that ran underneath the sidewalks.

Of course, those could be used for other purposes right.

Over the years those legends build.

NARRATOR: The 18th Amendment was passed in 1919.

Prohibition officially started a year later in 1920.

But temperance, a lifestyle choice void of spirits, started long before the 18th reigned in the Republic.

GRAY OTTLEY, DISTILLED RESOURCES, INC. CEO: The Temperance Movement had been growing for a long time.

It didn't happen overnight and there was good reason then for the nation to consider it.

NARRATOR: In the early 1800s, the average American drank nine gallons of hard liquor annually.

Consumption was high partly because alcohol purified water.

So many considered it safer to drink than what was sourced from the river.

JUSTIN SMITH: We have two rivers in Idaho called Malad.

Well, that's French, malaise, for sickness.

As areas developed rivers, streams tended to become sewers.

Outhouses were propped right over the top of the river.

Beer was what everyone drank.

It was the beverage of the time.

[FIRE BELL RINGING] NARRATOR: In Wallace, beer was lifesaving during a pivotal moment in American history.

When the great fire of 1910 burned 3 million acres of Northern Idaho timber in two days, drinking water was nearly impossible to find, but the brewery had beer.

JUSTIN SMITH: What happened was the local brewery was still there with their vats full and they opened up the vats and the fireman were able to drink the beer.

And they continued to drink it until the brewery itself burned down.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: A stiff drink was hydration and temptation in the same swig.

Consumption was so high, sermons about alcohol abstinence were preached to the choir and women quickly attached themselves to the temperance movement.

JUSTIN SMITH: It really was an issue women focused in on because it hit them close to home.

The violence in the home.

The economic instability.

And because women didn't have Suffrage yet in most places, they didn't have a voice to change things.

And so only by agitating through societies and organizations were women able to start effecting change in society.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: Carry A.

Nation, so named for what she claimed as her attempt to "carry the nation," was a midwestern woman who knew how to agitate.

Wearing a large white bow symbolizing temperance, she ransacked saloons repeatedly with a hatchet.

Axe-shaped pins were sold to keep her "hatchetations " funded.

JUSTIN SMITH: In some ways she was a tragic figure.

Her first husband was a falling down drunk.

And Carry obviously didn't like that and she was not somebody who would sit back.

Some people said oh she's crazy, but she wasn't.

She wanted change.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: When that change finally came with the official drying out of America in 1920, desperate times for the drinkers spawned creative measures seemingly overnight.

JUSTIN SMITH: Hiding alcohol, it was everywhere.

When you get into the speakeasy era everybody had a flask hidden somewhere.

NARRATOR: Including in their shoes.

This high-heel hides a one-ounce vial of vodka.

The more ladylike version of bootlegging.

JUSTIN SMITH: The word bootleg actually comes from the pirate era.

They had those high boots that came up to the knees.

And they could hide contraband in their boots that way.

Who is going to stop a sailor and ask him to put his hand down their boot?

Nobody.

NARRATOR: Those who hid their distilleries in the woods disguised their footprints by wearing cow shoes .

A dress shoe with blocks of wood attached to the sole, so when moonshiners ran from the law, the tracks left behind looked like a herd of cattle instead of humans.

Speed boats moved barrels along the coast, while race cars souped up with unusually large trunks and plenty of pep moved black market booze from town to town faster than the law could chase.

Despite the antics, the anti-alcohol approach was politically significant.

Many consider the 18th Amendment to be the first women's movement in America, ahead of Suffrage granting women the right to vote one year later.

JUSTIN SMITH: The idea was let's make America into this shining city on the hill.

This beacon of freedom for the world.

And to get there, there were all kinds of ideas about how to make it better.

NARRATOR: But fostering an ideal, and sober, society came with severe unintended consequences.

NEWSREEL: It was a rough game but the stakes were high.

For every gangster killed or caught.

There were two to take his place.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: In the 1930s, the notoriously violent gangster Al Capone surfaced.

Estimates put his annual revenue at $100 million.

He opposed Prohibition, but knew it was good for his bootlegging business, openly taunting lawmen to chase down his supply.

[MUSIC] One of those lawmen was Richard "Two Gun" Hart, nicknamed after an admired cowboy movie star.

Two Gun came west with two revolvers holstered on his hips and a badge that warranted his efforts to shut down distilleries by the dozens, sometimes several in one day.

His territory included Northern Idaho, where he enforced liquor laws on reservations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

He was thorough in his seizures, while also guarded about his heritage.

Two Gun Hart was born in Italy as James Vincenzo Capone.

He was Al Capone's oldest brother.

[MUSIC] JUSTIN SMITH, HISTORIAN: It is a huge irony that you have Al Capone who is the face of Anti-Prohibition.

And then you have his brother who was out here, who is closing down saloons and dealing with speakeasies and dealing with bootleggers.

NARRATOR: Two-Gun Hart had a lot of drink to confiscate in Idaho where state Prohibition started four years before the rest of the country was cut off.

He also had a lot of loopholes to monitor.

The law allowed liquor for two purposes: religion and medicine.

Some congregations grew 10-fold when seekers of drink realized churches still had wine, but the bigger abuse was medicinal.

JUSTIN SMITH: Medicinal was everywhere.

It's still a statement that we hear people use today.

They don't even know the background of it.

Yeah, I'm having a beer for medicinal uses.

They don't realize that goes all the way back to that Prohibition Era.

NARRATOR: Even before Idaho instituted its own Prohibition in 1916, brew businesses paid a fine, similar to the sin tax instituted for prostitution, but that penalty didn't seem to quench the state's thirst for a dry society.

Establishments serving spirits were still plentiful.

JUSTIN SMITH: It was seen as a revenue opportunity, but also seen as we've got a problem.

Pocatello had saloons.

Boise had a number of saloons.

Lewiston had saloons.

Wallace had saloons and these places ended up becoming more of an issue with fighting and violence so Idaho started early on.

NARRATOR: Pocatello's first hotel, The Pacific, owned by the railroad, used to open its bar not just for limited hours, but for limited minutes.

The thinking was, quench the working man's thirst, but don't let him linger long enough to get drunk on the job.

Warehouses popped up along the rail line, providing storage for barrels.

Brewers Franklin and Hayes dominated the district.

They were the kings of beer in Pocatello.

While Boise had Beer Baron John Lemp, a one-year mayor and one of Idaho's first millionaires.

NARRATOR: Idaho's beer businesses thrived until the Volstead act passed a few months after the 18th Amendment.

It reinforced Prohibition by clearing up any confusion.

The alcohol ban wasn't just for what was considered hard liquor.

It was also for wine and beer.

Some Idaho brewers tried to survive Prohibition by churning out ice cream instead.

And municipalities scrambled to cover the lost liquor tax revenue.

[MUSIC] CRYSTAL POTTER, IDAHO WINE COMMISSION BOARD CHAIR: Prohibition was sort of born from I think the states and the country thought they could control people by taking away their liquor.

And liquor was bad and liquor tore up homes.

And liquor caused a lot of problems.

And I think that's not untrue, but I think what we've learned is it didn't stop people.

NARRATOR: Thirteen years after nationwide Prohibition started, the Great Social Experiment proved to be a great national flop.

Consumption wasn't eliminated and crime escalated.

The Temperance movement didn't disappear, but it definitely faded, and Prohibition failed.

NEWSREEL: Despite repeal of prohibition The Women's Christian Temperance Union was still going strong.

The 18th amendment was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

It is the first, and only, time an amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been cancelled.

The two amendments between 18 and 21 are the 19th , Womens Right To Vote, and the 20th, which officially declares the President's January Inauguration date.

Nationally, the celebration of Prohibition's end resulted in one million barrels of beer sold in one day.

In Idaho, glasses were also raised right away but local product took decades to revive.

After Prohibition was repealed, 17 states chose a program called a controlled system.

Washington exited the program a decade ago.

The other states stand by their decision, including Idaho where beer and wine are sold in grocery stores but hard liquor is only sold in state liquor stores with limited hours.

JEFF ANDERSON, IDAHO STATE LIQUOR DIVISION DIRECTOR: If you want a half pint of cheap vodka at 1 in the morning after you've been to the bar, you can't find it and we think that's a good thing.

NARRATOR: Sales at state liquor stores generate millions annually for higher education, state police, local agencies and substance abuse treatment, but many residents never add to that fund because they don't drink liquor.

Their temperance is by choice and that's the point.

Prohibition doesn't work when it's mandatory.

GRAY OTTLEY, DISTILLED RESOURCES, INC. CEO: I think the great social experiment proves it is not something that works, but it can be regulated.

It can be tempered.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: STE.

Chapelle is considered Idaho's first major winery post- Prohibition.

It planted 15 acres of grapevines in 1971, nearly four decades after repeal.

Unlike bathtub gin and moonshine, growing grapes is not a quick, or simple, affair.

MEREDITH SMITH, SAWTOOTH AND STE.

CHAPELLE WINEMAKER: It takes years to get good at what you're doing.

Same just like the vine.

It takes years for the fruit to get good.

NARRATOR: Ste.

Chapelle sold its first wine in 1976, 2,000 cases of it.

By 1982, 62,000 cases.

Today, the vineyard covers 600 acres and produces 125,000 cases annually with more vines needed to meet growing demand.

National alcohol consumption was less than two gallons per person when prohibition ended.

Now it's more than two gallons per person with most of those gallons as spirits followed by wine then beer.

Estimates put the standard number of alcoholic drinks per consumer at 535 drinks per year.

In Idaho alone, connoisseurs spent nearly 320 million dollars on hard liquor in 2022.

Booze is big business.

So is agriculture.

Crops are economic drivers whether they are grown for food or for drink.

MEREDITH SMITH: This soil is really fertile and we're set up for an agriculture environment here.

We should take advantage of it.

NARRATOR: Undertones of temperance still dictate how state spirits flow, but they do flow.

Grapes make wine, barley makes beer and Idaho's famous potatoes make vodka.

The largest distilled alcohol producer in the West, Distilled Resources Inc., opened in Rigby in 1988.

It was originally a fuel ethanol plant under the Carter Administration.

When that didn't work out, it was converted into a beverage alcohol distillery .

That company, known as Drinc, turns nine pounds of potatoes into 750 milliliters of vodka in six days.

It's the largest potato-based alcohol producer in North America, moving 200,000 cases annually.

And then there's Bardenay in Boise.

It opened with pioneering spirit in 1999 when the federal government granted it the first permit in the nation for distilling spirits in a public space, a restaurant.

JEFF ANDERSON: People don't realize that Idaho was way out in front on that.

Now there's distillery restaurants all over the country and it started right here.

NARRATOR: Today, Idaho is still flush with work arounds for libations─ways to get around the liquor laws inspired by the Era of Prohibition and the temperance movement.

Island Park is a landscape-scale work around.

State liquor laws are the reason why Highway 20 through the resort town is known as the longest Main Street in America.

JUSTIN SMITH, HISTORIAN: After Prohibition Idaho had an interesting hodge podge of laws.

A lot of them still exist today.

One of those laws was you could not sell liquor by the drink over a bar unless you were part of a municipality.

So what they did was they incorporated all the lodges along the road and they called that Island Park.

That's how you end up with the longest main street in America.

NARRATOR: Prohibition could still happen today, but at a city or county level rather than statewide.

And Idaho still keeps booze in check with a quota system that limits liquor licenses to one for every 1,500 people within city limits.

JUSTIN MORRIS, 100 PROOF HOSPITALITY OPERATING PARTNER: The quota system has certainly stifled growth in my opinion.

In this industry, liquor generally is one of your major profit drivers.

Your ability to sell that really helps your bottom line.

Helps your business stay afloat.

When that isn't afforded to you because liquor licenses are hard to get, it creates challenges that you have to work around.

NARRATOR: Work arounds for other substances are surfacing too.

Look at that same controlled system map of the country.

Certain states now have something else in common.

Marijuana is legal in neighboring states but not in Idaho.

JEFF ANDERSON, IDAHO STATE LIQUOR DIVISION DIRECTOR: The problem with cannabis is it's not legal at the federal level yet.

It's always seemed odd to me that people would want to encourage more marijuana and alcohol and all the rest of these things to fill a budget hole.

If it's really important then find another way, but to prey on certain products and industries just doesn't seem right.

NARRATOR: Section 24 of the State Constitution, in language and by law, still favors temperance and sobriety, but by action Idahoans are still finding ways to work around what doesn't work for everyone.

CRYSTAL POTTER, IDAHO WINE COMMISSION BOARD CHAIR: I think it's easy for me to sit here knowing what I know and say that there was a lot of ignorance.

I'm sure at the time people had good intentions.

And I think we've learned a lot from it.

I think because of it we've made a lot of forward-thinking changes and a lot of good things have happened because we learned from our mistakes.

But I cannot imagine that if I had been living in a time of prohibition that I would have been on board.

JUSTIN SMITH, HISTORIAN: I don't think Prohibition will ever work.

Anywhere.

JUSTIN MORRIS: By making it illegal you created a whole black market for alcohol production.

You know that's why we have moonshiners and things bathtub gin and stuff like that.

Would that have happened otherwise?

Probably not.

What did we accomplish between the 18th amendment and 21st amendment?

We just created a black market for liquor.

[MUSIC] NARRATOR: That black market lost its mystique when Prohibition ended, while America's appetite for celebrating with a glass of something strong continued.

Today, there are creatively named pours like The Oddfellow, named after the men’s- only club that owned the building 18 resides in now.

The Rebekah, so named for the wives of the Oddfellows.

And The Skull in the Wall.

It recognizes the club's tradition of hiding a human head at headquarters.

It's legend in a glass, with a splash of rebellion for history's sake.

TASHA TAYLOR, 18 OWNER: I think there's a lot of the same Puritan things that have come through since the beginning of America.

A lot of that has come through in law, especially Idaho has been a conservative state for a long time and I think that it relates.

Having a speakeasy here, even though it's not illegal, I think for some people it's still an escape.

JUSTIN SMITH: Prohibition began because of violence in the home and because of the issues with alcoholism.

I don't think we've answered those questions yet.

And really what a lot of it comes down to is are people as individuals moral.

[MUSIC] JUSTIN SMITH: We also really realized how much Americans have that independent streak of don't tell me what to do.

[MUSIC] Announcer: Idaho Experience is made possible with funding from the James and Barbara Cimino Foundation, devoted to preserving the spirit of Idaho.

From Anne Voillequé and Louise Nelson.

From Judy and Steve Meyer.

The Friends of Idaho Public Television, the Idaho Public Television Endowment and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.