American Breweries Turn to Near Beer During Prohibition

When National Prohibition took effect in the United States on January 17, 1920, the Volstead Act defined beverages containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol as intoxicating. Breweries could no longer sell their regular beer legally, and many closed. Some surviving companies instead produced “near beer,” a malt beverage containing no more than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume. Anheuser-Busch, Pabst, Miller, Schlitz, Yuengling, and other breweries expanded or introduced low-alcohol products alongside malt extract, soft drinks, and other goods. Brands such as Anheuser-Busch’s Bevo and Pabst’s Pablo had already appeared before nationwide Prohibition and became prominent examples of the category. Near beer provided breweries with a legal product and helped preserve some facilities and distribution networks, although it could not prevent the wider collapse of the American brewing industry during Prohibition.