Medicinal Port

What we could call wineries in the US today date back to the first half of the 19th century. But, how old is the oldest continuously operating winery? The obvious answer would be that it dates to 1933, the end of Prohibition, or more precisely that it would be on my negative 24th birthday, the precise end of Prohibition. That would be wrong.

On a limited basis, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution allowed for the production of alcoholic beverages for sale to others. Apparently, one of the exceptions to Prohibition were beverages that were classified as medicinal. And, a winery not far from the US Military Academy in West Point, NY that first opened in 1837 has continued to operate and produce wine ever since.

One of the key products that carried Brotherhood Winery, originally founded as Blooming Grove Winery, in business through Prohibition was Medicinal Port. While it's not necessary to produce this product today, during Prohibition, other than so-called bathtub gin (this could be any homemade beverage made for home consumption), legal distributuon of alcoholic beverages was limited to those produced in limited quantities fro sacramental rites and those for which a "patient" had a doctor's note now known as a prescritpion. In other words, you would go to your doctor with an ailment and as I understand it, pay a small extra fee for a note from the doctor and travel to a winery that produced medicinal wines, and that was your ticket to getting alcoholic beverages legally.

At Brotherhood Winery, Medicinal Port was apparently the favorite. While it was apparently not made the same way in each batch and certainly had no consistency in taste, Medicinal Port was, we might say, wildly popular. On a typical Saturday, there was a line, or a queue if you prefer the British term, to get in that was ... well, let's call it a long line.

How long?

The typical Saturday line was about 10,000 cars long. Yes, you read that correctly. Ten thousand cars! And, each of those cars came with a doctor's note saying that the occupant needed Medicinal wine, the most popular of which was Medicinal Port.

Today, you can visit Brotherhood Winery conveniently located in Brotherhood Plaza, adjacent to the Stop & Shop in Washingtonville, NY. However, tours are on hold until COVID restrictions end. While I've not ever tasted their wines, a look at their website suggests that if you do go there, it's for the history and a tour of their caves replete with some keepsakes from their 19th century heritage. And while they do talk about their award-winning wines, I have not yet found evidence that those awards would come from me.

Some day, however, I am going to visit and give them a chance.





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