Skip to content

About the Title

About the Title: Bricks of Wine

During the 1930’s prohibition, a repressive time when alcohol was outlawed in the U.S., many people began making their own alcoholic beverages at home.  To meet the burgeoning demand for grape juice, growers increased their production by sevenfold. The juice was commonly sold as “Bricks of Wine.”  The bricks came with a warning label that said, “After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it would turn into wine” or in the case of the brick pictured here, “To prevent fermentation, add 1/10% Benzoate of Soda.”

Source: WikipediaTime Magazine

Even after prohibition was repealed, many of the laws from that time in history remain on the books today. Archaic for a modern era, they still limit alcohol production, interstate transport, and provide a source of tax revenue. Bricks of Wine seemed to be an appropriate title for a blog about winemaking and wine in general.