Imagine secretly transporting a trunkload of beer across the United States. You will be able to get, say, a hundred people their drink for the night. But load the same trunk with whisky, and you will be able to get a thousand people their drink for the night. So you’re going to smuggle the whisky—and when your drinkers come into your speakeasy, that’s all that you will be able to offer them, along with even more toxic drinks like Billie Holiday’s favorite, White Lightning, a booze so strong that even hard-core alcoholics would turn it down today.
