Countdown to 100 years

It’s time to brush up on your knowledge of speakeasies, bathtub gin, demon rum, homebrew, bootlegging and other icons of the Roaring Twenties.

January 16 marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, which set in motion the criminalization of the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages a year later.

I hope everyone will spend the coming year studying up on the fascinating controversies surrounding the 13 years of “the Noble Experiment.” Visit your library, watch the 2011 Ken Burns documentary or Google “pros and cons of Prohibition.”