Sam Bronfman |
During Canada’s prohibition (1915-19), Sam Bronfman, with brothers Abe, Harry and Alan, turned their hotel and prostitution operations into “boozeriums.”
Business was brisk until 1918, when a law was passed that prohibited the manufacture or importation of alcohol. There was a loophole that permitted distribution by pharmacists of alcohol for “medicinal” purposes. The Bronfmans went into the mail order business putting labels on their whiskey such as “Rock-A-Bye Cough Cure” and Dandy Bracer–Liver and Kidney Cure; it contained sugar, molasses, bluestone, 36 percent alcohol, and tobacco.
With the passage of the Volstead Act in 1919, making and drinking liquor illegal in the United States, Sam and Harry opened export houses along the Saskatchewan-North Dakota border. They reduced 65-over proof white alcohol, mixing it with water, some real whiskey and a bit of burnt sugar. A shot of sulfuric acid simulated the aging process.
Their whiskey cost $24 per barrel and sold by the barrel for $140. (more...)
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