Repeal Day Roundup

Tomorrow may be Thanksgiving, but for anyone who enjoys wine with dinner, beer with friends, or cocktails with, well, impunity, next week brings reason to count your blessings even more. Friday, December 5, is Repeal Day, and this year marks the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, promptly sending bathtub gin down the drain and happy imbibers back into the bar. So check out the list of Repeal Day celebrations below and get together with some pals for a drink, because thanks to the 21st Amendment, you’re free to do so.

Boston
Eastern Standard
This Kenmore Square restaurant on the eve of Repeal Day celebrates with a 1920s-themed, six-course dinner—complete with vintage cocktail pairings and dancing into the wee hours of the morning.

Chicago
Spring
Kirk Estopinal, former barman from The Violet Hour, will be pouring discounted cocktails at this historic bathhouse-turned-restaurant.

Philadelphia
Memphis Taproom
This Philly beer institution offers $1 draft beers from 3-4 p.m.

Portland, Oregon
50 Plates
Try a flight of Manhattans—applejack, bourbon and rye—for $9, or sample one individually for $3. A variety of pre-Prohibition cocktails will also be available.

Teardrop Lounge
Send them an e-mail for the password that will grant you access to this bar’s top-secret Repeal Day cocktail menu.

San Francisco
Nopa
Fans of single-barrel bourbon won’t want to miss out on this special tasting of Nopa’s house whiskey, Redhead Rye.

Elixir
This Prohibition-era “soft drink parlour” reopened as a bar the day Roosevelt repealed Prohibition, and it will be celebrating this 75th anniversary with period cocktails at period pricing.

Washington, D.C.
City Tavern Club
D.C.’s Craft Bartender’s Guild is encouraging people to “party like it’s 1933” at its Repeal Day Ball, hosted in President John Adams’s former headquarters. Expect guest appearances from such bartenders as Jeffrey Morgenthaler (keeper of repealday.org) and Gina Chersevani, as well as a bevy of classic cocktails.

Temperance Tour
Garrett Peck, author of the soon-to-be released The Prohibition Hangover (Rutgers University Press 2009), leads curious imbibers on an afternoon tour of Prohibition-related sites through D.C.

Heard of any other events going on? Email us at info@imbibemagazine.com and let us know!