Imagine Durango without micro brews, craft cocktails or even a bottle of wine. Now sit down and take a breath. It’s not real. Prohibition ended Dec. 5, 1933, and El Moro Sprits and Tavern is inviting everyone to celebrate.
“Let’s celebrate the reason we are here!” said Dave Woodruff, general manager at El Moro. “Without the end of prohibition, none of us in the bar business would be here.”
He got the idea for the celebration about a year ago from the documentary “Hey Bartender.” Woodruff explained that the film is “basically about how the craft cocktail movement came around.” Part of the film features a bar in New York City, Employees Only, that throws a Death of Prohibition party every year on Dec. 5.
Woodruff said that many bars have celebrations like this, some going all out with singers, dancers, flappers and even a coffin-shaped cake. This is one funeral where it’s OK to get a little buzzed.
El Moro plans to follow suit with its very own coffin cake, some champagne and a performance from Miss Goodie’s Can Can Review. Weather permitting, there may even be some protesting out front.
There is no cover, and Woodruff said period attire is most definitely welcome. So don’t be alarmed on Saturday night if flappers and gangsters are mingling outside of El Moro.
— Sara Knight