In Alabama: Voting Dry and Practicing Wet

The international traveler, touching down in some parts of the Muslim world, knows from experience not to expect a belt or two before bed—or before leaving, for that matter. Thus, at the cocktail hour, glumly clutching a glass brimming with the essence of a prune, the businessman is cross but not shocked. The domestic drummer, however, always appears to be caught short—and made bewildered—when the journey pauses for an evening in an American anachronism, the dry county. After all, this year will mark the 50th anniversary of the end of Prohibition, and yet...