America is a nation “founded” on alcohol. The Mayflower stopped at Plymouth Rock instead of its original destination of Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia because they needed “hydration.”  More directly stated, the Pilgrims were simply out of “wine and beer.”

Drinking water in 1620 was a dangerous liquid to consume unless it was purified and made potable.  The best way to do that was to make wine or beer.  History reports that the Pilgrims started their voyage with 10,000 barrels of wine, in addition to a substantial stock of beer. That  supply was running dangerously low after crossing the Atlantic Ocean, so it was decided to land and resupply their “liquid stores.”  Plymouth Rock, today known as Provincetown Harbor, was where they chose to came ashore. From the time of the Pilgrims to the start of Prohibition in 1919, there was no minimum drinking age in America.

By 1919, Americans were accustomed to decades of unrestricted drinking of alcohol. Producers of alcoholic beverages realized that Prohibition was going to change the drinking habits of the American public and had to dispose of large quantities of inventory before the new law to effect. 

Orange County Deputies dump illegally produced wine.
Orange County Archives

Wine producers had enough inventory to fill “75 Olympic swimming pools” with wine, all of which had to be dispositioned in some way. Knowing this, Americans stocked their wine cellars and liquor cabinets to insure they could continue to imbibe their favorite vintage. Sources claim that “over 141 million bottles of wine were [sold] within three months.”  Considering that many Americans already changed their drinking habits, that was an incredible amount of wine sold to a small population of consumers.

When alcohol production and consumption again became legal, States established their own drinking age minimum, that was as low as 15 in some States. It was not until 1984 that the Federal Government threatened to cut federal highway funding to States that did not have laws in place that set the minimum drinking age at 21 years old.