By Rachael O’Hara
January 15, 2025
Rachael O’Hara is a current anthropology Master’s student at NAU, and graduated with her Bachelor’s in anthropology from the university in 2020. She is a historical archaeologist specializing in consumption, capitalism, and their interactions with identity throughout the 20th century. She was the Graduate Assistant for the Apex Field School through the 2024 season and is excited to go back to Apex in 2025.
The brewing and consumption of beer has been around almost as long as humankind itself. Dating back to the Stone Age, the invention of beer may have well been accidental, with soaked cereal grains turning into a fermented concoction instead of the intended porridge. Over the centuries, beer has played many roles from an alternative to polluted water, to a prominent social drink shared with friends in a bustling tavern or bar. The people at the Apex logging camp were not immune to the sway of beer, even while America’s Prohibition limited their access to the magical amber beverage.
Breweries During Prohibition
Arizona was the 13th state to pass a Prohibition law before the National Volstead act took place. Arizona Prohibition began on New Years Day, 1915, and ended when the National laws were repealed in 1933. This puts Apex’s occupation almost entirely within the era of strict alcohol regulations and illicit trade.
During Prohibition, breweries were forced to either close their doors or pivot toward making new products to survive. A common strategy for beer companies was to produce a malt extracts and malt syrup. Sold in a can, this syrup could be used in baking – but it was an open secret that many people would use the syrup to homebrew beer.
The residents of Apex purchased and used malt syrup, potentially using it for brewing out at the camp. Three brands of malt syrup are present at the Apex archaeological site: 2 “Puritan Malt Extract Company”, 1 Schlitz, and a whopping 14 “Budweiser Hop Flavored Barley Malt Syrup” and “Malt Extract” cans are found across the site, suggesting that management and laborers alike enjoyed beer. A representative from the Anheuser-Busch company informed us that there is no known connection between specific dates and the differing writing on the cans.
The New Brewery: Home
Homebrewing was a common pastime in the Prohibition era. The sale of malt syrups and paraphernalia used in brewing, such as tubs and tubes, exploded during the 1920s with a 25% increase from pre-Prohibition times. Suddenly, everyone was requiring malt syrup for their “baking.”
The same representative from the Anheuser-Busch company assured us that, “While the product was intended for domestic baking, some consumers found another use and began using the syrup in home brewing, though this was not the intention of August Busch Sr., Anheuser-Busch’s President.” Still, Budweiser even went so far as to have some marketing materials featuring a shop clerk winking at the buyer.
Material evidence at Apex of possible brewing can be seen through the presence of large wash tubs and barrel hoops. Both of these vessels were common in brewing and storing homemade beer and could double as tools for other domestic purposes, like washing clothes.
A “Hires Household Extract” root beer bottle marked as “For Home Use” by adding yeast, sugar, and water, indicates that the resident of Apex were familiar with brewing.
Beer after Repeal
After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, American brewers launched back into action. The products devised in those Prohibition years fell to the wayside as beer once again reigned supreme. This can be seen at Apex through the hundreds of amber glass beer bottles and cone-top beer cans scattered throughout the site. Beer cans from Acme Beer (a “Non-Fattening Refreshment” advertised mostly to women) and Pabst, and a Pabst bottle opener, point to specific beer brands consumed at Apex.
Eighteen amber bottle bases, most likely from beer bottles, were manufactured by the Owens-Illinois Glass Company at their Alton, Illinois plant (Code #7) in 1933. The “G” numbers on a few of these bottles mark identify them as beverage bottles.
Mystery Alcohol
In Summer 2025, we found two alcohol bottles we need help identifying! Let us know if you recognize or have any further information about either of these marks.
First, several bottles from the Latchford Glass Company, a 1925-1939, Los Angeles-area bottle manufacturer, bear the whiskey Rectifier number of “R-19”, as required by Post-Prohibition law. So far, we have been unable to identify which company was assigned this number, and, as we only have the bottle bases, we cannot match it to other bottle information.
Secondly, we have part of a company logo, that seemingly has the initials “C.D. Co”, or “G.D. Co”. We have found one identical logo on-line, but haven’t been able to match it to a specific company. Unsurprisingly, ebay listings aren’t a great source of historical information. The logos of Crown Distilleries, Continental Distilling Company, Century Distilling Company, and George Dickel Company don’t exactly match ours, but it could be a variation.
Sources
Anonymous. “Makes Five Gallons of a Delicious Drink: Health and Political Debate through Root Beer?” Michigan State University Campus Archaeology Program 2 February 2019 https://campusarch.msu.edu/?p=7017.
Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control. “The History of Liquor in Arizona.” https://www.azliquor.gov/history.cfm
Jabloner, Amy. 1997. “Homebrewing During Prohibition.” Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine, December 1997 Issue. https://byo.com/article/homebrewing-during-prohibition/
Klein, Christopher. 2019. “How America’s Iconic Brewers Survived Prohibition.” History. https://www.history.com/news/brewers-under-prohibition-miller-coors-busch-yuengling-pabst
O’Hara, Rachael. 2025. “‘We weren’t dry, I’ll tell you that’: Prohibition-Era Alcohol Consumption at Northern Arizona’s Apex Logging Camp,” From Opium to Moonshine: Unveiling Historical Substance Use, Prohibition, and Queer Histories in Archaeological Contexts symposium, Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Mob Museum. 2023. “Artifact Spotlight: Alternative Liquor Products from Prohibition.” https://themobmuseum.org/blog/artifact-spotlight-alternative-liquor-products-from-prohibition/