According to Billy Connelly, Al Capone invented the “use by” date on milk bottles. It is reported that during the depression, Al donated $1 million for school kids to get milk. In fact we wrote earlier about starting to get our school milk. But because he hated the sour milk he had as a child, he insisted the milk bottles be stamped with a “use by” date.

There were one or two variations on the theme: it was Al’s big brother who did it; Al did it because one of his brothers died from drinking rotten milk or that it was actually organized by one of Al Capone’s key henchmen, Murray Humpreys (aka The Hump).

Under the Volstead Act, passed into law in October 1919, all intoxicating drinks with more than 0.05% alcohol were banned – beer as well as spirits and wine. Notwithstanding that, whisky was allowed for “medicinal purposes”only and smuggling in large amounts of whisky from Canada became common. Al Capone persuaded the Chicago officials of the day to allow him to manufacturer “non-alcoholic” beer, [Read more…] about What’s Your Use By Date?