NEAR BEER

A Real Problem

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            From the earliest days of our history, there have been temperance movements attempting to ban the production and use of alcoholic beverages — with varying degrees of success. Finally, in 1920, the 18^th amendment made the production, transport, and sale of intoxicating liquors illegal. The temperance fight led to many incidents that we might find curious today. "Near beer" was supposed to have only a very small percentage of alcohol, but it didn't always work out! Below are a few examples of North Carolina's battle against “near beer.”

[Raleigh Times (Raleigh, NC) 12 Jun 1905]

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Supreme Court Case

Is Licence Requirement to Sell Near Beer Legal?

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     In 1909, the North Carolina Supreme Court heard a case challenging the right of Charlotte [Mecklenburg County] to require a $1,000 annual licence for the sale of near beer. Attorney general Thomas Bicket argued the case for the state, and he described near beer the starkest of terms.

  "What is near beer? The testimony in this case shows that it is a beverage that finds ready sale as a substitute for real beer. Our bibulous* constituents cry for it as children cry for Castoria**. It is made by the people who make beer, and drunk by the people who drink beer. It looks like beer, smells like beer, tastes like beer. … It is shoved across the old oaken counter, and the mirrored back bar, with the pictures of Aphrodite … springing from the foam, making the illusion complete. And sometimes in the gloaming the alchemy of a shadow projected from a policeman's expansive back and falling athwart the bar, works a transformation and suddenly, even as the thirsty one lifts the cup to his lips, near beer becomes the real thing.

     "And yet this court is asked to relegate this lusty beverage, this scion of centuries of vats, to the insipid level of soda water. Perish the thought! It proclaims itself in North Carolina as sole heir to and successor to the gaudy fluid. It boasts of its bubble, and sparkle and snap. It says to the disconsolate legions in an arid land, 'I may not be entirely wicked — but try me.' It capitalizes its kinship with Budweiser and Schlittz. It scorns soda water as Roosevelt scorns a mollycoddle, and lords it over grape juice like a mint julep over a milk shake."

     The state won the case and the lic
ence was enforced.

      

* excessively fond of drinking alcohol

** a laxative

[Taken from News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) 17 Nov 1909]

The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC) 11 Aug 1888

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Sells Near Beer on the Water.

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     Deputy Marshall Wilcox returned from a business trip to Currituck county Tuesday night. While on the trip Mr. Wilcox discovered a floating near beer joint down in Currituck which presumable pays no state of county tax.
     The proprietor of this establishment has secured a house boat and located at a convenient point, and he was doing a good business.

[Taken from The Advance (Elizabeth City, NC) 23 Jun 1911]

[The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 28 Oct 1899]

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FIFTY-THREE DRUNKS
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Were Arrested By the Police During

the Month of February—
Banishment of Near-Beer Saloons May
Result in Decrease of Drunkenness.
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[Taken from The Wilmington Dispatch (Wilmington, NC) 1 Mar 1911]
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BEER SALOONS ARE NOW ALL CLOSED
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       The Board of Aldermen of Elizabeth City (Pasquotank County) passed an ordinance in April 1910 regulating the sale of near beer. It stipulated that dealers who sold near beer must pay the Trustees of the Graded School of Elizabeth City $500 to be used for educational purposes.

     In addition, stores selling the beverage were required to open on Matthews stgreet east of Martin and Poindexter street and north of Matthews. The beer had to be sold within ten feet of the front door and all screens, curtains and other obstructions had to be removed from windows and doors.

     It was believed that this ordinance would put near beer saloons out of business. It was noted that "a few days ago, the near beer saloons… were running wide open and they were thriving too."

[Taken from Tar Heel (Elizabeth City, North Carolina) 15 Apr 1910]

[Raleigh Times (Raleigh, NC) 21 Jun 1899]

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Rocky Mount Closes Near Beer Saloons.

     Rocky Mount, June 4.— Every near beer saloon and firm selling near beer and like beverages was closed yesterday and for the first time in years a resident in Rocky Mount cannot get the real stuff, or the near article. All near beer applications were filed before the city aldermen last night, and it was this body that denied the privilege of selling, and this morning the proprietors of the four establishments were met at the door by an officer who informed them that they could not open, as the city had denied them license. 

     The problem was that in the four saloons, beverage was being sold that was making many offenders drunk. The proprietors were ordered to sample all their stock and send it off for analysis. State law said that over thee percent makes "near beer" into the real article, and it was found that every man in the business was selling the near article that contained at least three and a half and even up to five percent alcohol.

[Taken from The Daily Times (Wilson, NC) 7 Jun 1910]

[News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) 7 Oct 1900]