National Affairs: The Grape

Sam Picalas made 60 gals, of elderberry wine. It contained 5% alcohol. He drank some, was not intoxicated. U. S. agents seized him. A U. S. court in West Virginia convicted him of violating the Volstead Act, which specifically permits the manufacture of "non-intoxicating cider and fruit juice" for home use. Last week at Richmond the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, sent Sam Picalas and his elderberry wine back to West Virginia for retrial, with orders that a jury pass on whether or not this beverage was intoxicating in fact....

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