Back in the 1970’s, in Washington state, it was illegal to sell Coors. I remember going to Moscow Idaho in my Vega and bringing back a few cases under a blanket in the back. Well, I was also only 18 and the drinking age in Idaho was 18, while it was 21 in Seattle, where I lived.
I guess that is my one foray into bootlegging. :-)
Everyone of a certain age, and fondness for beer, has a similar story. Coors didn’t want its beer distributed to distant regions where it couldn’t guarantee the beer was kept cold and “fresh.” Coors then became contraband outside of its official distribution area, selling for as much as twice the price of comparable beers in, for example, the DC area. Forbidden fruit and all that ...
I remember loading two cases of the stuff on an airplane in Phoenix (circa 1973), and heading back to Cleveland. And Coors was so popular you could only find it in Phx on Tuesday afternoon when the beer delivery truck came, sold out in couple hours.
“I guess this is my one foray into bootlegging”
Always knew you were a renegade, CL! :)
Did the same thing Kansas to Missouri.
As a 20 yr old college in the midwest I once flew to visit a relative in Rochester NY, drove to Toronto, bought a case of Molson Brador (not available in the US), drove it back to Rochester, and got on a plane back to college with the beer in my carry on bag. Airlines and airport security weren’t in the business then of banning innocuous fluids in suitcases nor worrying about legal drinking age.
Back in ‘75, I worked a gun show in Pittsburg KS and brought 2 cases of Coors back to NW OH. It was odd that Pittsburg was a dry county, in that you could only get beer at bars, if you wanted the hard stuff you had to bring a fifth in, they’d put your name on it, mix you a drink and charge you a buck-fifty! That was at the Holiday Inn lounge there. I stuck with the unobtanium of beers—but now, Coors sucks, just like everything else that’s changed. Ptui upon them all.