Dry Kentucky?

[MJL]

OK, two years in a row I have encountered substantial portions of Kentucky to by increadibly enough DRY. Last year it was headed to the Mamouth Cave area and this year it was driving south on I75. Sure, the area around the distilleries have some GREAT liquor stores but heading south on I75 most of the counties around around the interstate, south of Buffalo Trace/Frankford area seem to bereft of boozers. Am I imagining this or is half of Kentucky dry?

[barturtle]

Only 32 of the 120 counties in KY are completely wet, 44 are completely dry, the others are "moist"

http://abc.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/51D2E894-D5A3-4396-B29C-9C3D05F0A995/0/WetDryList07122010.pdf

http://www.abc.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/6A8C1E77-7A88-4516-AE63-DD6B1E3230FC/0/WetDryMap012009.pdf

[darkluna]

Only 32 of the 120 counties in KY are completely wet, 44 are completely dry, the others are "moist"

Yes, but WHY is this so??

[fishnbowljoe]

Yes, but WHY is this so??

Politics me boy. Politics. :grin: Joe

[callmeox]

I just finished watching the documentary Rumrunners, Moonshiners and Bootleggers. During the segment on Prohibition, I was surprised to learn that Mississippi was the last state to repeal its statewide ban in 1965, more than 30 years after the 18th amendment was repealed.

Lots of that mindset still exists in one form or another.

Come to a Gazebo and strike up the dry county conversation with Stu. You will learn a lot.

[cowdery]

Politics me boy. Politics. :grin: Joe

More to the point, the politics of religion.

I've always heard that dry counties in Kentucky (and no doubt throughout the South) stay dry because three very powerful groups want them that way: the fundamentalist preachers whose congregations consider alcohol a sin, the bootleggers who satisfy the illicit thirst of said congregations, and the law enforcement officials who receive handsome bribes from the bootleggers, and who put some of it in the collection plates on Sunday. That triangle trade has been going on in Kentucky for as long as anyone can remember and I've never laid it out for anyone who said it isn't so.

Slowly but surely, more and more of these areas are going moist or even all the way wet.

Danville, KY, for example, voted itself wet earlier this year. According to an August 14, 2010 article in the Danville Advocate-Messenger, "Mary Robin Spoonamore could have started selling spirits at V-The Market when she became the first recipient of a package liquor license earlier this month.

"But Spoonamore waited until Friday afternoon (August 13) to make sure the first bottle of liquor sold in Danville since the town officially went wet was Old Pogue Master’s Select Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, a brand with a name familiar to many local residents."

Jack Pogue, 85, is a Danville resident. That day Pogue came to the store and signed bottles. The first one went to Danville Mayor Hugh Coomer. (Click on the pictures button.)

What's happening is that economic reality is trumping the old unholy alliance. The reality is setting in that if local businesses got the money that is going to bootleggers, or to adjacent wet counties and towns, that money, including the tax revenue, would stay in that county or town.

[TNbourbon]

The 600-pound gorilla of American whiskey is Jack Daniel's, which famously distills in a dry county, where it can't sell its wares. This isn't simple quaintness, though.

Largely unknown otherwise is that more than half of the rest of the state of Tennessee is dry, too. This is typical of the South, and wrought of Prohibition's repeal, which gave tantamount power to state authority.

Think about it: 95%+ of American whiskey is distilled in states prominently "dry". Frankly, I don't think it's coincidence, but I'll leave it to others to analyze the cause-effect, sociological roots. Chuck?

[tmckenzie]

Chuck, you nailed it. Alabama is the same way. Crooked politicians, bootleggers, and preachers who swear alcohol is a sin.

[WsmataU]

When I grew up in Oldham County (North East of Louisville) it was completely dry. I think they went "damp" about 10 years ago. We used to have to drive to the county line to buy beer at an old shack/ liquor store called Hartmann's, that was there solely to support the habits of workers from the Ford Truck Plant.

Chuck hit the nail on the head. It is all about religion back home. But it reminds me of a great joke I heard once.

Q: Why do you make sure to take at least two Southern Baptists with you when you go fishing?

A: Because if you only take one he'll drink all your beer.

:slappin::slappin::slappin:

[smokinjoe]

We've been going to Cumberland Falls Kentucky every Summer for the last 28ish years. Bone dry until a few years ago. Now, moist, I guess it's called. I remember in the early years, road trippin' to Jellico, TN across the state line for beer, when we screwed up and under-planned the beer consumption for the 5 day trip :drinking: Easier to pack bourbon... I'll tell you though, some great shine in the area. My wife's sister's husband is from there, and he knows the good spots.

[Dramiel McHinson]

More to the point, the politics of religion.

I've always heard that dry counties in Kentucky (and no doubt throughout the South) stay dry because three very powerful groups want them that way: the fundamentalist preachers whose congregations consider alcohol a sin, the bootleggers who satisfy the illicit thirst of said congregations, and the law enforcement officials who receive handsome bribes from the bootleggers, and who put some of it in the collection plates on Sunday.

[NeoTexan]

I believe Stu has been involved in fighting the good fight within his own area ...... any thoughts my good man?

[MJL]

Interesting answers and interesting turn on the realities of Southron culture. I had basically assumed that ilicit liqour was part of the deal here but what I did not see was the economic pressure to release the grasp on social control by the local powers to be. I know I am preaching to the choir here but these laws are idiotic. Kentucky is both shying away from their bourbon heritage and placing in front for the public to relish.

[cowdery]

I am reminded of something Larry Flynt said many years ago that may be relevant here. "I publish HUSTLER for people who want to believe sex is dirty."

Sin is an important part of Southern culture.

[barturtle]

I am reminded of something Larry Flynt

Now there's a good Kentucky Boy.

[MJL]

Kentucky is surely an interesting state. Like the river or bourbon that it sends to the world, some Kentuckians are profound, some are profane but they never cease to amaze me.