I was listing to a show on one of the cable shows, I think the Food Network last night, and the host made the case that the French had invented a product called “Coca Wine” and he then went on to make the case that a fellow by the name of Pemberton started making Coca Wine and selling it in the US.

As the narrator’s story went, he had a compelling bit, saying that Pemberton then switched to making the product as a non-alcoholic soda during prohibition. And that they stopped putting cocaine in the the Coke in 1903.

A very, very compelling story indeed. Except for the fact that the Voldstead Act, which started prohibition, was enacted in 1919. What Food Network failed to note was this:

In 1885, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed Prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a carbonated, non-alcoholic version of French Wine Cola.

Sometimes the devil is in the details. Technically, they’re right, but their presentation was all wrong. When we refer to prohibition in the US, we refer to the Volstead Act…