A young Avram Davidson would have been seven years old at the time, when prohibition was the law of the land and beer barons like Dutch Schultz sold illegal alcohol to the public. In 1962 Avram wrote Beer Like Water, which was part of a book of Davidson's true short stories titled Crimes & Chaos.

In this book, in Avram's typical fashion, he plays with the setting such that it's a bit more special than reality. Beer! Beer! Beer! exists at the intersection of magical realism (just a hint) and historical fiction, with the streets of Yokums representing the Yonkers of his youth in the 1920s and 1930s much in the way that the British Hidalgo of Limekiller! parallels Belize.

If you pay attention, you'll notice little nods to you, his readers, along the way-could Yokums somehow be connected in Avram's universe to the goings-on in the fantastical empire of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania?

Others on Avram Davidson:

Avram Davidson, to me, combines many talents and attributes including imagination, style, and perhaps above all, wit. - Ray Bradbury

Avram's ear for weird ways of talking was wonderful. - Ursula K. Le Guin

Avram was a magician - Kate Wilhelm

Avram Davidson fascinates me -as a person, I mean. He is a mixture of a little boy and a very wise old man... - Philip K. Dick

As a writer Avram was a pure wonder. His densely textured and beautifully phrased pros was a delight to read, and a pleasure to publish. - Frederik Pohl

If you love fantasy, if you love alternate worlds, or if you just love stories well-told, that's who Avram Davidson is - someone who knows a great deal more than you do and is damned if both of you aren't going to have a great time. - Neil Gaiman

He is a law unto himself when it comes to fantasy; one of the genuine originals. To read him is to love him. Or, to be more accurate, to read him is to become addicted to his special vision. - Harlan Ellison