# Prohibition bottles - list?



## bottle-o-pop (Mar 21, 2017)

I am a collector of decorated embossed soda bottles, but this topic isn't limited to just those.

Prohibition (the 18th amendment of the Constitution) remained in effect from 1920 to 1933. I found it interesting to read about it in Wikipedia and elsewhere.

Anyway, 13 years is a long time, and large bottling and beverage companies had to turn to other things for people to drink during that time - to keep their beverage and beverage-related businesses alive.

There was also an empty niche in people's lives. Hence, the 'prohibition bottles', but which ones are, or can be called, prohibition bottles? I guess this question really means to ask - which are the 'prohibition' brands printed on beverage bottles?

It appears to me that there are two basic kinds of 'prohibition bottles'.

bottles with brand names that include 'tag' words such as: wine, brew, club, punch, rye, etc.
bottles with recognizable brand names of beers or wines that have the soda bottle shape, not the beer or wine shape.

There's a third type of bottle that has a name or depiction of a person that would make one think of adult partying, instead of just quenching thirst. that might be called a 'prohibition' bottle.

Has anyone here ever made or seen a list, or a specific collection, of 'prohibition bottles'?


----------



## RCO (Mar 22, 2017)

I think this bottle might be what your talking about , its fairly unusual and only one I've seen like it , its for O'keefe's which was a large Canadian brewery but at some point likely prohibition or around that time they bottled pop and ginger beer . but I think they might of continued doing pop post prohibition , perhaps it had been too successful to let go


----------



## RCO (Mar 22, 2017)

another prohibition bottle that exists from Ontario is for  "sleeman's brewery " its a large brewery in Guelph Ontario and seems to have bottled pop for a very short time in 20's or 30's , I don't have this bottle but have a picture of it


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 22, 2017)

bop

I am by no means an expert on Prohibition era soft drinks, nor the bottles those soft drinks came in. But during the course of the years I have been collecting and researching I have come across certain brands during that era that seem to stand out more than others. As you probably know, the closing of bars and saloons during the Prohibition years caused a modest decline in the sales of certain soft drink mixers in those types of establishments. However, it wasn't long before other types of establishments emerged to fill that void, such as Speakeasies and Soft Drink Parlors. As a consequence, "Bathtub Gin" became the most popular form of alcohol served in Speakeasies and Soft Drink Parlors. And to compliment Bathtub Gin, certain mixers gained in popularity as well. Of all the mixers I am familiar with during that era between 1920 and 1933, two types stand out more than any others. The two types of mixers I'm referring to were just about any brand that used the terms ... 

*Dry *Ginger Ales

Lime *Rickey* 

As near as I can determine, the King of all mixers during Prohibition was ...


Canada Dry Ginger Ale 



Based on what I have read, it appears that Canada Dry was first imported into the United States around 1919, which was coincidentally just prior to the start of Prohibition in 1920. But whether it was actually coincidental or intentional is the topic of another discussion. Anyway, if I were to search out Prohibition era soft drinks I would start with dry ginger ales and lime rickey's, with Canada Dry Ginger Ale at the top of the list. I know those types of soft drink bottles can be found with paper labels - but whether they were also made in fully embossed deco-style bottles, I'm not sure.  I guess the only way to know for sure is to search for them and see what can be found. 

I hope my observations help. 

Bob


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 22, 2017)

P.S. 

Here's an interesting (full page) newspaper article about how ginger ale became a billion dollar industry during Prohibition. 

From ... 

The Sunday Tribune ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota ~ March 6, 1927

(Save and zoom to read)


----------



## Robby Raccoon (Mar 22, 2017)

Don't forget, some of us went dry a lot earlier. 1916, 1918.


----------



## hemihampton (Mar 22, 2017)

Another good sign of a Prohibition drink is many Breweries would produce non alcoholic beers of 1/2% alcohol & sodas from these same breweries but the brewery name would change from Brewery to Beverage co or Bottling works, Products Co. ect, ect. I have many different beer bottles with these type of name changes on there labels. LEON.


----------



## Canadacan (Mar 22, 2017)

Here are a few from Montana


----------



## jblaylock (Mar 24, 2017)

Saw this today, might fall into the category






Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


----------



## Canadacan (Mar 24, 2017)

Jblaylock that bottle must be past prohibition....but it's so cool!..I like it!


----------



## hemihampton (Mar 24, 2017)

That Pabst may be a different Pabst Family. You got Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee but then you got a Pabst Family in Ohio, not Related to the Milwaukee Brewery Pabst Family. The Ohio one might of been from Hamilton & served Sodas, not beer if memory is right?  Blatz Brewery made Soda's also, I have a Strohs Brewery Soda bottle from Prohibition. LEON.


----------



## carling (Mar 24, 2017)

Leon, can we see the Stroh's?


----------



## hemihampton (Mar 24, 2017)

Yeah, If I can find it, Thought I had it on my fire place mantel with some of my other Strohs but do not see it. Maybe It's boxed up somewhere. Most my crown tops boxed up. LEON.


----------



## hemihampton (Mar 24, 2017)

Mines like a Art Deco type of embossed bottle with no paper label. BUT, Here's a pic of a Paper Label Stroh's Soda, LEON.


----------



## Canadacan (Mar 25, 2017)

Here are some Blatz with permission from a friend that posted them on facebook....I just love those quarts!


----------



## hemihampton (Mar 25, 2017)

Blatz also made them in a embossed non paper label art deco style bottle. LEON.


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 25, 2017)

Here's one that I'd say is a definite crossover brand ... 

"Lime Rickey  ~  Hamm's *Brewing *Company  ~  St. Paul, Minnesota

Notice its a carbonated beverage and non alcoholic but has "Brewing" on the label. I'm not sure when it was produced, but no doubt related to Hamm's Beer because of the St. Paul connection ... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamm's_Brewery


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 25, 2017)

bottle-o-pop 

If you are only interested in fully embossed deco style bottles, you might want to emphasize that now or else I suspect this thread will be bombarded with paper label bottles such as the one I just posted. Please let us know your preference ...

1. Only Embossed Deco Bottles

2. Both - Embossed Deco and Paper Label Bottles


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 25, 2017)

Here's one worth consideration. I'm not sure if the closeup of the deco soda bottle is the same as the full image acl soda bottle, but the deco closeup definitely has "Brewing" embossed on it.  Notice they also bottled "Kist" 

Engesser Brewing ~ St. Peter, Minnesota 

http://engesserbrewery.com/minnesota/bottles/


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 25, 2017)

I did some looking around and found this Engesser bottle that's like the one in the link I posted. Its a fully embossed deco soda bottle and has brewing on it. The Owens-Illinois mark on the base appears to be 1933 ...


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 25, 2017)

bop

Instead of looking for the Prohibition era soda bottles themselves, which is extremely time consuming and kind of confusing, I'm now looking to see if someone has already put together the type of *list *you are attempting to compile. I haven't found an actual list yet, but there are indicators as to how many breweries were able to remain in operation during Prohibition, some of which that have already been posted. As for the others, well, there were lots of them. But how many of them bottled soft drinks remains to be determined. Here's a sampling of how many brewers we're talking about ... 

Approximate number of Brewers in America from the late 1800s to 1932 ...

Late 1800s = Close to 4,000 

1918 = About 1,000 

1920 = About 500

1932 = Fewer than 200


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 25, 2017)

Here's one such *list *for Chicago, Illinois ...

The Chicago Tribune ~ September 14, *1923*


----------



## SODABOB (Mar 25, 2017)

bop

Please let me know what city you live in or near and I'll see if I can find a list for it that's similar to the one I found for Chicago.


----------



## CreekWalker (Mar 26, 2017)

I posted a state specific list last year, try the search here on ABN.


----------



## GLASSHOPPER55 (Mar 31, 2017)

Yeah that Pabst bottle--Wow! Great condition too.


----------



## bottle-o-pop (Mar 31, 2017)

SODABOB said:


> bottle-o-pop
> 
> If you are only interested in fully embossed deco style bottles, you might want to emphasize that now or else I suspect this thread will be bombarded with paper label bottles such as the one I just posted. Please let us know your preference ...
> 
> ...




Hi Bob, #2 (both) is fine with me. I have always thought it was an interesting topic so I finally posted it, hoping people here could have fun with it 

I have seen some evocative brand names on sodas: Elwino, Redwine, Weinpop, Cheerwine, Wineberre, 2 types of Blatz (patents 71289 and 85044), Hudepohl, and a nice Orange Crush bottled by Pabst. There are many others, I'm sure. Bludwine and perhaps some of the others pre-date prohibition, so it's confusing.


----------



## CanadianBottles (Apr 1, 2017)

Canadacan said:


> Here are a few from Montana
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Those are great!  Especially the "Oh Boy!" bottle with the face on it - that's the face that would later develop into Alfred E. Neuman!


----------



## Canadacan (Apr 1, 2017)

Hey CB that's funny about the Oh Boy!...because that's what I said when I first saw it!..Hahaha!.....It's from Frank-Nevin Co......as is the Ward's Crush in my profile pic, in fact it came from the same find as those bottles.


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 1, 2017)

I wonder what makes *Nip-Grape *better? 

"Sh-h-h-"  Its a secret! I won't tell anyone if you don't!  [ wink-wink ]

Trademark:

First Use = 1922
Registered = 1926

https://trademarks.justia.com/712/11/nip-grape-sh-h-h-what-makes-it-better-71211664.html

Note:  I haven't been able to find an original paper label or bottle, but where there's a bottle cap there must be a bottle/label ... 
*
Sh-h-h-  What makes it better ?*


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 2, 2017)

Follow Up ... 

I got to wondering about the Nip Grape character's use of "Sh-h-h-" and am inclined to think it might be a subliminal reference to ... 

*Speak easy  / Speakeasy 


*The word “speakeasy” came from a bartender’s term: people were supposed to “speak easy” when at a bar, meaning not to draw any suspicion towards buying alcoholic beverages by looking nervous or talking quickly. Slang words used for alcohol included, among others:

•coffin varnish
•white mule
•horse liniment
•monkey rum
•panther sweat
•rot gut
•tarantula juice


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 2, 2017)

Speaking of Speakeasies and grape drinks ... 

Even though grapes and grape drinks are not something you normally associate with Prohibition and alcohol consumption, I discovered the following about... 

*HOW WINE BRICKS SAVED THE U.S. WINE INDUSTRY DURING PROHIBITION*

"If you were to purchase one of these bricks, on the package would be a note explaining how to dissolve the concentrate in a gallon of water. Then right below it, the note would continue with a warning instructing you not to leave that jug in the cool cupboard for 21 days, or it would turn into wine. That warning was in fact your key to Vino, and thanks to loopholes in Prohibition legislation, consuming 200 gallons of this homemade wine for your personal use was completely legal, it just couldn’t leave your home – something grape brick packages were also very careful to remind consumers."



http://vinepair.com/wine-blog/how-wine-bricks-saved-the-u-s-wine-industry-during-prohibition/


Note:  I'm not suggesting that Nip Grape was made from grape bricks - I'm merely trying to point out that grapes and grape drinks did play a popular role during Prohibition and that the manufacturers of Nip Grape might have been trying to take advantage of that popularity by producing a grape drink whose subliminal slogan suggested that Nip Grape was "better" when mixed with alcohol / bathtub gin / moonshine / etc.  Not to mention that the word "Nip" is highly suggestive as in 'Take a little nip' of whiskey.


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 2, 2017)

jblaylock said:


> Saw this today, might fall into the category
> 
> 
> 
> ...






Pabst also used a deco-style bottle. With this particular example embossed with 'Milwaukee'


----------



## jblaylock (Apr 2, 2017)

These Falls City bottles certainly falls into this category






Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 2, 2017)

bop

In post #26 you said ... 

"I have seen some evocative brand names on sodas: Elwino, Redwine, Weinpop, Cheerwine, *Wineberre*, 2 types of Blatz (patents 71289 and 85044), Hudepohl, and a nice Orange Crush bottled by Pabst. There are many others, I'm sure. Bludwine and perhaps some of the others pre-date prohibition, so it's confusing."

*Wineberre  *popped up in one of my searches but I'm not sure if its pronounced "Wine Beer" or "Wine Berry" or possibly one of those subliminal names that could mean both. Anyway, I found the following ...  

Sign with the image of a deco-style bottle and "Trade Mark Reg. U.S. Pat Off." 

Note:  I couldn't find a Trademark listing but I did find several references as early as 1921



This is the only image of a Wineberre bottle I have been able to find. The fluted design is similar/identical? to the bottle pictured on the sign. I'm not sure what the embossing says but it might be something like ... 

"Why Not Wineberre"


----------



## sunrunner (Apr 2, 2017)

yes it's a late 1930s.


----------



## bottle-o-pop (Apr 3, 2017)

SODABOB - I have that bottle that looks like that. It does say: Why Not Wineberre on it.

It also (mysteriously) says on it: Bottle Pat'd. NOV. 20, 1923. It's mysterious for two reasons; one is that there are 3 patents for that day that look somewhat similar to each other, and the other is that the Wineberre bottle doesn't look exactly like any of them, or even all that close.
63324 63325 63326


----------



## bottle-o-pop (Apr 3, 2017)

... oh, and for what it's worth, the bottle has:
9 2
 1
on it, so i guess that just possibly might indicate 1932


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 3, 2017)

bop

When you say 9 2 1  do you mean ...

Owens Illinois   9 <(I)> 2  with a 1 below the symbol?  

If so, that would be 1932 as you indicated.  As you know, patent dates and production dates are often different. But because of the 1923 patent date, its possible that same bottle was produced for nine consecutive years.


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 3, 2017)

bop

Currently on eBay  ~ Three original Wineberre items ~  $60  ~ The telegram is dated 1933

Check it out ... 

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/332161659416?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&fromMakeTrack=true


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 3, 2017)

Also on eBay ... 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/292074005144?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

1. Similar in design to the Wineberre bottle with the fluted sides

2. Same patent date of November 20, 1923*

*Soda bottle designs were sometimes slightly altered to accommodate certain needs/preferences


----------



## SODABOB (Apr 5, 2017)

I came across this today and thought I'd share it. Date unknown but guessing Prohibition era ...


----------



## CreekWalker (Apr 10, 2017)

Nice label! The Desert scene worked for RC cola and camel cigarettes, why not a imitation grape soda. Good find!


----------

