Bootleggers and Baptists

It all started because I am a contrarian. When there is a popular view among my family and friends, I enjoy taking an opposing position. My fandom for my favorite college football team started because most of my closest circle of friends were strong in their support of the state university. Of course, that meant that I started to cheer for their arch-rival merely to upset them. Slowly, over time, I became a huge fan of that rival.

I started regular consumption of alcoholic beverages when Dry January became popular. A lady friend named Alexandra decided to challenge herself to go without an adult beverage for the entire month of January. I had never heard of Dry January until she mentioned her plans. I was pleased she was doing this because she drank, a lot. Alexandra is a typical Type A personality who works at an extremely high-stress job. I thought taking thirty days away from the bottle would do well for her.

And that is when my contrarian nature got me in trouble. Alexandra decided to challenge me to give up something. At the time, I did not partake of adult beverages except on rare occasions. This made Dry January less than challenging as I often went months at a time without a drink. She finally convinced me to give up coffee for a month but the joke was on her. I had become a daily coffee drinker but it was a habit that I only developed about 3 years before. Yes, I enjoyed my daily burst of caffeine first thing in the morning but it was not something that I had to have. Giving it up for thirty days was a breeze. To tease Alexandra, however, I decided to take at least one drink of alcohol a day during Dry January.

When January was over, I kept taking a drink daily through February, and March, and April, and continued for fourteen straight months. I didn't think I had a problem. Most nights I simply fixed a bourbon & ginger ale as a nightcap as I unwound from my day. Other times, I often surprised many of those earlier mentioned friends and my coworkers when I started having cocktails at social events. Sometimes at home, I would sip a glass of wine since I had many bottles that had been gifted to me but I never opened them.

It had been 455 consecutive days of having a drink when I stepped into the bar on April 1st. I was traveling and needed to get a room for the night which I did at the only hotel in a small crossroads town in northeast Texas. If it were rated, it would probably be maxed out at one star. After settling in, I decided to check out the hotel bar. To my disappointment, the hotel's restaurant had been closed due to a fire a few weeks prior to my arrival. The desk clerk recommended a local bar and grill about 2 blocks away. I liked the thought since I could continue my streak.

I entered the bar looking forward to some simple bar and grill-style food with a mixed drink. I am not picky in my choices of beverages so my standard of bourbon & ginger or rum & coke would have sufficed. I was jolted when I was quickly reminded that there are still several of the 254 counties in Texas that are dry. Alcohol sales are forbidden. Now, with the clock ticking towards the end of the day, I was being told that I was in one of these dry counties. At first, I thought they were playing an April Fool's joke on me, but no. They were quite serious.

Truly curious, I asked the probably underaged waitress how they got by calling themselves a bar if they didn't serve any alcohol. She proceeded to give me a brief history of the establishment after telling me about how they did have mocktails or what are basically fancy colored drinks made to look like more exotic drinks found in real bars.

Apparently, the designation of a bar and grill went back to the days before Prohibition. The business was a popular meeting place for those who lived in the area and wanted to stop for a meal and a beer. Stronger offerings were also available. When Prohibition became the law of the land, local law enforcement simply turned a blind eye to the fact they continued to sell bootleg beer and alcohol. One of the worst-kept secrets in the area was that if one wanted to partake of the now illegal beverages, this little crossroads establishment was the place to go.

Eventually, the time came when Prohibition was repealed. This led to the creation of what in politics is sometimes called strange bedfellows. The religious community, mostly Baptists, strongly supported outlawing alcoholic beverage sales. Bootleggers had become rich with the manufacture and sale of the less than legal libations. Both quickly supported a law to keep the county dry. Many of the surrounding counties also passed similar laws. Again, the police and sheriff's departments looked away as long as everything was kept quiet and problems were kept to a minimum.

With the passage of time, however, people and their attitudes changed. Slowly but surely, throughout the state of Texas and in the counties surrounding the one where I was located, these laws were also repealed. Law enforcement and politicians used anti-bootlegging as a platform to get elected. Younger generations started to move away from the church or their opinions of drinking were tempered compared to previous generations. Unfortunately for me, on this now dark night, I had settled down in one of the few holdouts.

I inquired of the young lady where I could go to legally buy something a little stronger to sip on. I honestly was hoping she would tell me that if I went around to the back of the building, I could knock on a door, repeat a password, and be served a jar of homemade brew.

This was not the case. Not only had I found my way to a dry county, but I was also in an establishment that was almost perfectly centered geographically to surrounding areas. It would take a significant drive to reach a biker bar in one direction or a cowboy club in the other.

With a big sigh, while saying goodbye to my streak, I ordered a burger and some of the biggest and best-tasting onion rings I've ever had.

To drink? I had a large glass of good old-fashioned Southern sweet tea. I haven't had a "drink" since.

And Alexandra? She has failed every time she tries the Dry January challenge.