Old ads

Whisky ads of the 1880s and 1890s

Trade paper covers and copyright prints from 1880 to 1898, each with where and when it ran and a note on the firm behind it.

Most of these come from the Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, a San Francisco trade paper for the people who bought whisky by the barrel. The San Francisco Public Library scanned its bound volumes in color, so you see the pink, lavender and green paper the ads were printed on. The rest are chromolithographs the Library of Congress holds from copyright deposits in the 1880s.

This was the age of Monongahela rye from Pittsburgh, Kentucky bourbon sold by the barrel to the trade, and whisky sold as medicine. In March 1897 Congress passed the Bottled in Bond Act, and within a year distillers were selling the government stamp itself.

Old Watermill and Mellwood, bottled in bond, 1898

Green trade journal cover with a black panel advertising Old Watermill, Mellwood and Normandy whiskies bottled in bond, and a lower panel for Old Oscar Pepper, Chicken Cock, Belle of Marion and Rookwood — Less than a year after the Bottled in Bond Act: "Bottled in Bond under direct supervision of the U.S. Internal Revenue Department."Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, February 14, 1898, volume 40, number 1, front cover. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri40sanfrich.

The act passed on March 3, 1897. A bonded whisky had to come from one distiller and one season, sit in a government warehouse, and go into the bottle at 100 proof under a federal stamp. This cover is one of the earliest ads found that sells the stamp itself.

Mellwood, Louisville, 1891

Lavender trade journal cover printed in purple ink advertising Mellwood, Normandy, G.W.S. and Dundee whiskies of the Mellwood Distillery Co., Louisville, with four round trademarks — The whole front cover of the trade paper, bought by one Louisville distillery.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, January 26, 1891, volume 26, number 1, front cover. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri26sanfrich.

Mellwood's brands were worth enough to fake. In 1908 the company took one of the early federal cases against "phantom" distillery labels, whisky sold under the name of a distillery that did not make it.

Woodcock Whiskey, 1882

Chromolithograph of two woodcock among flowers under the words Woodcock Whiskey, with a painted business card for the Applegate Distilling Co. — A hunting print with the distiller's card painted into the corner.Wells & Hope Co., lithographers, Philadelphia, 1882, copyright deposit. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-43940.

The Applegate brothers built their distillery near Owensboro, Kentucky, between 1875 and 1880. It shut down in the fall of 1890 for lack of water, so this card comes from the brand's short run.

Gibson's Rip Van Winkle Whiskey, 1882

Round color label reading Gibson's Rip Van Winkle Whiskey around a scene of Rip Van Winkle drinking with the dwarfs in the mountains — Rip Van Winkle drinking with the little men of the Catskills, the drink that put him to sleep for twenty years.Copyright deposit print, United States, 1882, claimant Alfred C. Gibson. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-44064.

Alfred C. Gibson registered four designs for the brand in 1882. Whether he was connected to the big Philadelphia Gibson whisky house has not been shown.

C. Vowinkel & Co., Pittsburgh, 1880

Chromolithograph of a cavalier in a plumed hat raising a glass in a stone window carved with Bacchus heads, over stacked barrels, for C. Vowinkel and Co., Monongahela rye whiskies, Pittsburgh — Monongahela rye, California wines and imported brandies, from a Pittsburgh merchant. Designed by M. Ulffers of Dusseldorf.Copyright deposit print, United States, 1880. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-44082.

In 1880 "Monongahela" was the name for western Pennsylvania rye shipped all over the country from Pittsburgh, and it was a bigger name than Kentucky bourbon.

A. & H. Myers Whiskey, Philadelphia, 1885

Chromolithograph of three old gentlemen at a table in a tasseled room with a chest of bottles, under gilt lettering reading A. and H. Myers, Philadelphia, Whisky — Three old men and a chest of bottles, in gilt.Wells & Hope Co., lithographers, Philadelphia, 1885, copyright deposit. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-43938.

Little is on record about the firm. The Library of Congress catalogs it as Meyers.

S. Dillinger & Sons and Sam Thompson Pure Rye, 1891

Trade journal page with an engraving of the Bethany Distillery of S. Dillinger and Sons at Ruff's Dale, Pennsylvania, and below it Sam Thompson Pure Rye Whisky of Pittsburgh — Two Pennsylvania rye houses on one page, with an engraving of the Dillinger distillery and its smokestacks.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, January 26, 1891, volume 26, number 1, page 42. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri26sanfrich.

Samuel Dillinger had died in August 1889. His sons ran the Ruff's Dale plant, rebuilt after an 1881 fire, at 500 bushels a day with six warehouses holding 55,000 barrels.

Quinine Whisky, Louisville, 1895

Black sunburst seal reading Quinine Whisky, Trade Mark Registered, Prevents and Cures a Cold, Distilled Only by Quinine Whisky Co., Louisville, Ky. — "Prevents and Cures a Cold." The ad copy also promised it cured neuralgia, headache "and all Malaria Troubles."Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, February 7, 1895, volume 34, number 1, page 27. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr34171895221895sanfrich.

Louisville directories list a Quinine Whisky Co. from 1897 to 1919. This ad is two years older than the first listing found.

Cyrus Noble, San Francisco, 1898

Trade journal advertisement reading Cyrus Noble, Bourbon and Rye Whiskies, Crown Distilleries Company, 100 to 102 Front St., San Francisco, under a crest — Cyrus Noble, from the Crown Distilleries Company on Front Street.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, February 14, 1898, volume 40, number 1, inside front cover. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri40sanfrich.

The brand was named for an Ohio distillery man. Ernest R. Lilienthal took it up in San Francisco in 1871, and by the mid 1890s his firm's liquor side, Crown Distilleries, was the biggest wholesale liquor house on the West Coast.

Red Top Rye, 1898

Magazine advertisement of a man in evening dress raising a glass beside a cabinet, with the words Red Top Rye, Built to Fit the Taste, Ferdinand Westheimer and Sons — "Built to Fit the Taste!" From a humor magazine, between the jokes.Puck, New York, August 31, 1898, volume 44, number 1121. Internet Archive, sim_puck_1898-08-31_44_1121.

Ferdinand Westheimer's firm, with a distillery in Daviess County, Kentucky, and offices in Cincinnati and St. Joseph, made Red Top one of the most collected names from before Prohibition.

Moore & Selliger, Louisville, 1891

Trade journal page for Moore and Selliger of Louisville with a bell shaped Belmont trademark, a star shaped Astor trademark and a round Nutwood trademark — Belmont, Astor and Nutwood. Nutwood was offered for "compounding purposes," meaning to blenders.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, January 26, 1891, volume 26, number 1, page 21. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri26sanfrich.

Moore & Selliger ran the Belmont and Astor stills side by side on 17th Street in Louisville from at least 1870. After Moore died in 1896 the firm became Max Selliger & Co. and ran until Prohibition.

Belle of Nelson, 1882

Chromolithograph of a harem bath with nude and half dressed women, a robed attendant in a turban holding a water pipe, and the words Belle of Nelson Old Fashion Hand Made Sour Mash Whiskey — A Turkish bath, a water pipe and a room of nude women, to sell Kentucky sour mash.Wells & Hope Co., lithographers, Philadelphia, October 2, 1882, copyright deposit. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-03041.

The whisky was made in Nelson County, Kentucky, and sold from Louisville. Bartley, Johnson & Co. bought the brand in 1881, the year before this print, and sold out to the Whisky Trust in 1900. The Trust's leftovers later became National Distillers.

Van Beil's Rye and Rock, 1888

Chromolithograph of a young woman in a pink and white ruffled gown holding up a small glass beside a bottle, under the words Use Van Beil's Rye and Rock, the tonic and only cure for coughs, colds and consumption — "The tonic and only cure for coughs, colds and consumption." Consumption meant tuberculosis.Copyright deposit print, United States, January 10, 1888. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-02934.

Rock and rye was rye whisky sweetened with rock candy, and for decades it was sold as a cough medicine, which also kept it on drugstore shelves.

Kolb & Denhard, San Francisco, 1898

Trade journal advertisement for Kolb and Denhard, Old Nonpareil Bourbon and Rye Whiskies, with an engraved stag's head and Birch's Belfast Ginger Ale — Old Nonpareil bourbon and rye, and in the same box, Belfast ginger ale.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, February 14, 1898, volume 40, number 1, page 5. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri40sanfrich.

A San Francisco importer on Montgomery Street selling whisky and the mixer together. No reliable history of the firm turned up, so the ad has to speak for itself.

E. J. Curley & Co., Camp Nelson, 1898

Engraved trade journal advertisement for E. J. Curley and Co., Camp Nelson, Kentucky, distillers of Blue Grass and Boone's Knoll hand made sour mash whisky, with two round trademarks — Blue Grass and Boone's Knoll, "made in the Famous BLUE GRASS REGION."Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, February 14, 1898, volume 40, number 1, page 5. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri40sanfrich.

The same page as the Kolb & Denhard ad above it. A Jessamine County, Kentucky, distillery selling to the West Coast trade through Hellmann Bros. & Co. on Front Street, San Francisco, as the ad says. This one is also on Wikimedia Commons.

More ads: 1900s · 1910s

Sources

Old Watermill and Mellwood, bottled in bond, 1898. archive.org
Bottled in Bond Act, Act of March 3, 1897, 29 Stat. 626. govinfo.gov Source for the note on Old Watermill and Mellwood.
Mellwood, Louisville, 1891. archive.org
Brian Haara, "Mellwood Bourbon: The Early Fight Against Phantom Distilleries". brianhaara.com Source for the note on Mellwood.
Woodcock Whiskey, 1882. loc.gov
Visit Owensboro, Applegate Distilling Company. visitowensboro.com Source for the note on Woodcock Whiskey.
Gibson's Rip Van Winkle Whiskey, 1882. loc.gov
Library of Congress record for the four Gibson prints. loc.gov Source for the note on Gibson's Rip Van Winkle Whiskey.
C. Vowinkel & Co., Pittsburgh, 1880. loc.gov
WHYY, Pennsylvania rye whiskey history. whyy.org Source for the note on C. Vowinkel & Co..
A. & H. Myers Whiskey, Philadelphia, 1885. loc.gov
Library of Congress record. loc.gov Source for the note on A. & H. Myers Whiskey.
S. Dillinger & Sons and Sam Thompson Pure Rye, 1891. archive.org
History of Westmoreland County, the Dillingers. pa-roots.com Source for the note on S. Dillinger & Sons and Sam Thompson Pure Rye.
Quinine Whisky, Louisville, 1895. archive.org
Pre-Pro, Louisville distillers Q and R. pre-pro.com Source for the note on Quinine Whisky.
Cyrus Noble, San Francisco, 1898. archive.org
Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Cyrus Noble whiskey bottles. fohbc.org Source for the note on Cyrus Noble.
Red Top Rye, 1898. archive.org
Pre-Pro, Shot of the Week, Red Top. pre-pro.com Source for the note on Red Top Rye.
Moore & Selliger, Louisville, 1891. archive.org
Pre-Pro, Belmont and Astor distilleries. pre-pro.com Source for the note on Moore & Selliger.
Belle of Nelson, 1882. loc.gov
Pre-Pro, Belle of Nelson Distillery. pre-pro.com Source for the note on Belle of Nelson.
Van Beil's Rye and Rock, 1888. loc.gov
The Daily Beast, "Rock and Rye: A Study in BS". thedailybeast.com Source for the note on Van Beil's Rye and Rock.
Kolb & Denhard, San Francisco, 1898. archive.org
The scan. archive.org Source for the note on Kolb & Denhard.
E. J. Curley & Co., Camp Nelson, 1898. archive.org
The scan. archive.org Source for the note on E. J. Curley & Co..