Buffalo, NY was home to an estimated 8,000 "drinkeries"(the local newspapers
term for illegal drinking houses), that fact according to Buffalo Mayor F.X.
Schwab in 1928. Most of these establishments were just normal houses and
businesses with hidden back rooms. There were however, the more carefully
hidden "widcat breweries" and clandestine stills that I have seen only the
remnants of one in person. It is a basement of a farmhouse in the Point
Abino area of Ontario, Canada (near Whisky Point and 20 min across the
border Buffalo).
During the writing of my book on area drinking habits and breweries, I have
uncovered the locations of over twenty "drinkeries" located in the area. It
should be noted however these "drinkeries" were highly mobile and in most
cases short lived...

Regards, Steve Powell

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