‘Tipsy History’ tells about women in local alcohol past

Learn about female bootleggers, the McKeesport woman who coined the term “speakeasy” and other women prominent in local alcohol history at a program Thursday at the Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse in SpringGarden on the North Side.

“Tipsy History” is a biannual collaboration between Wigle and the Heinz History Center, combining a fun look at alcohol history with spirits samples related to the historical topics. Both Wigle and the History Center have hosted this in the past.

This time it’s Wigle’s turn, and co-organizer Allison Burns said women’s issues are dear to the heart of Wigle Whiskey because Wigle’s staff is more than half women.

Past events have tended to focus on certain snapshots of time such as the rise of World War II tiki culture or pre-Prohibition alcohol issues. On Thursday, organizers are looking at women’s issues throughout Americanalcohol history.

“Women were the primary distillers, cider makers and brewers in the home” during the colonial era, Ms. Burns noted. And paradoxically, they were leaders in both the temperance movement and bootlegging. Bootlegging? Women? Indeed. “In some states, it was illegal to search women,” Ms. Burns said, so it was easy for women to get away with hiding alcohol under their dresses for transport across state lines. And women were fined less then men when they were caught, she said.

“There were reports of women who made $30,000 bootlegging, and their fines were only $1,000 or $2,000” — a gigantic net haul during the Prohibition era.