I'd heard of Choc Beer and Uno beer, but this is a new one--to me anyway. The article is a good one as it illustrates changing attitudes and methods of discovery.

Chickasaw Enterprise, May 15, 1901
"Good-bye Tin Top."
A decoction of sloppy stuff, bottled, it is said, from cheap, low grade, keg beer, and known to the trade by the euphonious, but significent name of tin-top, has been sold openly and without restrictions in nearly every town in the Indian Territory for years. It has caused the intoxication of thousands of persons but seems to have been ignored as an intoxicant by the authorities heretofore, possibly because beer is considered by many as a harmless drink.
But on Friday morning a change came over the traffic in Pauls Valley and vicinity. From the Bench, Judge (J. R.) Thomas (of Muskogee sitting in special session) announced that in his court tin-top would be held to be what it really is, a malt liquor, an intoxicating beverage, and whomsoever should be convicted of its sale should have the limit of the law in the penitentiary.
As the nervy Judge had, the day before, imposed large fines and penitentiary sentences in about 50 cases, the jointists concluded to take him at his word, and half an hour later, this town was "dry." Not a liquor joint was open, and if any tin-top or other such beverage has since been sold here, it has been on the q.t.--the front doors are shut and the bars are closed.
A few weeks ago the officials of the U. S. Marshal's force obtained samples of tin-top from all the joints and sent it off to professional chemists for analysis. The above is the outcome. The days of the open bar in the B.I.T. are numbered and the reign of the less destructive, but harder to catch bootlegger has again come.

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Originally posted by Tower:
I'd heard of Choc Beer and Uno beer, but this is a new one--to me anyway. The article is a good one as it illustrates changing attitudes and methods of discovery.

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One phrase I occasionally see in these old articles about liquor laws and violations is "blind tiger." Do you know what this means? As best I can tell from the context it might mean an after hours joint where intoxicants could be purchased.

And wasn't one of the ingredients of Choc beer tobacco?

--meursault

I think that was from the Prohibition-era custom of displaying stuffed tigers in speakeasies to alert patrons of the availability of bootleg alcohol, but then, again, according to legend in South Carolina, in 1893, the legislature enacted the dispensory act prohibiting strong drink in saloons. Charleston residents reacted by opening up joints called Blind Tigers where patrons entered by paying a fee to see a mythical "blind tiger." Cocktails were served and of course the tiger never showed up. With the Vollstead Act in the '30's, folks once again started going out to pet the blind tiger.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tower,

Thanks, Mike--that makes sense. I know the phrase dates back to at least 1892, as the Atlanta Constitution on July 6, 1892, p. 2. has an article decrying the existence of "blind tigers" in their city. It's interesting the slang people come up with to describe this sort of behavior. I am told that even to this day, in Salt Lake City, a bar, or (as it must define itself there) a private social club which sells liquor to its members, cannot advertise the sale of mixed drinks. Instead they announce the presence of "ghosts," which everybody understands is a euphemism meaning cocktails.

--meursault