No Prohibition for the Pioneers

Mamie Jones wrote that the earliest settlers in what became Cleveland County had no prohibition laws and made their own alcoholic drinks from what was available. They produced wild grape wine, persimmon beer, locust beer, apple cider, clear beer from cedar berries, and even beer made from green stalks of Indian corn, which they “did bruise and boyle.”

She believed it did not take long for these settlers to let corn fully mature on the stalk and make a much stronger drink from the grain—what later came to be called corn likker. Jones adds that the pioneers later taught this process to the Indians.

Source: Mamie Jones.