To The Amish Man I Saw at This Maine Store With a ‘Forbidden’ Item… Good For You!

Now before you come at me for not knowing what I'm talking about, you have to understand my background in this department. No, I'm not Amish, but I have been on the Heritage tour and have read several non-fiction Amish true-crime novels. Yes, they exist, and yes they're excellent reads.

I happen to live in an area of Central Maine where the Amish community has grown in significant numbers over the last decade or so. They are literally the friendliest people in the town and they make the absolute best outdoor furniture (among other hand-crafted products.

It's not uncommon to see them trotting along in their horse & buggies and even see them frequenting the local general store. What isn't super-common, is to see them snagging some booze while they're at the store.

In the title of this piece, you'll see that I used the word 'forbidden'. However, not all Amish denominations consider this to be a forbidden item and, for the Amish in our area, it technically is not. If you haven't figured it out yet, we're talking about alcohol.

Many people would think that it is the newer order Amish that allow some drinking, but actually it's the contrary. It's the OLDER order Amish that still allow alcohol consumption and the newer-order denominations that have banned it. And, at least in our area, the Amish population is mostly Swartzentruber Amish, which is very old-order.

So to the man I saw at a local store that sells beer, weddings gowns, shotguns and steak sauce, I love that not only were you picking up some animal feed, but also fancied yourself a suitcase style rack of Fireball cinnamon whiskey. Good for you, brother!

And no, I don't feel like I'm throwing this man 'under the buggy' so to speak, because as previously mentioned, there's nothing in the Swartzentruber background that prevents them from consuming alcohol.