Beer is back. It's also in the office.

It's interesting that a local church group is advocating now for a ban on alcohol in Oxford (Thanks to Star reporter Andy Johns for the item below). April marks the 75th anniversary of the first legal brewing of beer after Prohibition. An Amendment to the Volstead Act allowed the brewing of beer up to 4 percent ABV in the spring of 1933, which quenched the nation's thirst until the full repeal of Prohibition that December.

By coincidence, a package arrived this morning here at the office from Anheuser-Busch. A PR rep from the company had asked if they could send along a CD of historical materials regarding the April 7, 1933 "Beer is Back" celebration. There's news clips, photos, industry data and an audio clip of August A. Busch Jr.'s address to the nation early that morning on CBS radio.

What I didn't know they were sending was a fancy wooden crate, and a five-pack (one of the bottles broke in shipping) of Budweiser. That's the goods pictured at right. The CD will be a handy refernece for next week's column. I'm not a big fan of mass-market American lagers, but I'll drink one of the bottles out of courtesy and curiosity. The other four will probably wind up in a grilling recipe for one of the newsroom's frequent outdoor cooking experiments. As for the crate, I'm not sure what to do with it. Any ideas? How about recipe suggestions for the remainder of the Bud?