For anyone who has ever sat and pondered the steps between a beer’s conception and the moment it reaches your lips (and for those who haven’t wondered but are reading anyway), here is a look at the alcohol distribution system in the United States which has been in effect since the Twenty First Amendment was passed in 1933.
To put things in perspective, we should first cover the period before the current system was established. In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment received its final ratification, and in conjun...