Ancient Whisky

Old ads

Whisky ads of the 1900s

Ads from 1900 to 1908, the years the trade fought over what could be called whisky, each with where and when it ran.

The 1900s were the purity decade. Whisky makers argued over what could be called whisky at all, and in 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act put the question on the label. Straights, blends and imitations were sold side by side until a 1909 ruling under President Taft settled what each could be called.

Most of these come from the Pacific Wine and Spirit Review in San Francisco. The November 1906 issue came out seven months after the earthquake and fire.

Old Quaker Rye, about 1900

Dark toned print of a man in Quaker coat and hat greeting three gentlemen in evening clothes at a dinner table, with a bottle of Old Quaker Rye Whiskey in the corner, titled Old Quakers Visit
"Old Quakers Visit." A Quaker in colonial dress drops in on a table of men in evening clothes.Print, Chicago, about 1900, copyright claimant Corning & Co. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-43737.

The Library of Congress dates this only to about 1900. Old Quaker lived on: in 1950 a Chicago liquor man told the Senate crime committee that Schenley's lines after Repeal were Golden Wedding and Quaker. That story is here.

J. F. Cutter and John Ramsay Islay, 1900

Red and blue trade journal cover with four round trademarks including John Ramsay Islay Scotch whisky, and a red bottle beside a chemist's analysis of J. F. Cutter Whisky
A chemist's certificate as an ad: J. F. Cutter at 47.13 percent alcohol, "free from all abnormal or deleterious ingredients."Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, November 30, 1900, volume 43, number 1, front cover. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri43sanfrich.

Cutter was one of the best known whisky names in nineteenth century San Francisco, and people had been fighting over it since 1871, when its owners sued over a copied barrel brand and lost.

Dawson's Perfection Scotch, 1900

Trade journal advertisement reading Connoisseurs Prefer Dawson's Perfection Whisky, Try It, Sold Everywhere, with an engraved bottle and the name of the San Francisco agent Alec B. Wilberforce
"Connoisseurs Prefer." Scotch, through a California Street agent.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, November 30, 1900, volume 43, number 1, page 41. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri43sanfrich.

Peter Dawson was a Glasgow blending house. It incorporated in 1911 and went into the Distillers Company in 1924.

Sunny Side All Rye, 1900

White on black advertisement of a whisky barrel hanging from a steelyard scale between two trestles, headed Worth Their Weight in Gold, Are Blended Whiskies Made From Sunny Side All Rye
"Worth their weight in gold." And openly blended.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, November 30, 1900, volume 43, number 1, page 11. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri43sanfrich.

In 1900 there was no legal line between straight and blended whisky. The fight over that line ran through the 1906 food law to Taft's ruling in 1909.

Sunnybrook, the World's Fair medal, 1904

Trade journal advertisement headed The Grand Prize and Gold Medal, the Highest Award of the St. Louis World's Fair, with an engraving of the Sunnybrook Distillery of Louisville
The Grand Prize from the St. Louis fair, the same autumn the fair closed.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco, November 30, 1904, volume 47, number 1, front advertising section. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr47301904311905sanfrich.

Sunny Brook put that medal on its labels for years. The brand went into National Distillers after Prohibition.

Old Kirk and Yellowstone, after the fire, 1906

Red and white trade journal cover with Yellowstone across the top and a panel for A. P. Hotaling and Co.'s Old Kirk Whisky at 429 to 437 Jackson Street
Seven months after the earthquake, Hotaling's Old Kirk at the same Jackson Street address. The masthead now says San Francisco and Los Angeles.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1906, volume 49, front cover. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri49sanfrich.

Hotaling's whisky warehouse on Jackson Street came through the April 1906 fire, which gave the city its rhyme about God burning the churches and saving Hotaling's whisky.

Cedar Brook, bottled in bond, 1906

Trade journal advertisement for W. H. McBrayer's Cedar Brook, Hand Made Sour Mash, Bottled in Bond, with a photograph of a bottle and its strip stamp
"Stamped and Branded by The United States Government giving Complete History of contents." The bonded label, explained to the trade.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1906, volume 49, page 2. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pacificwinespiri49sanfrich.

Judge W. H. McBrayer died in 1887. After a legal fight his family kept the McBrayer name and J. Levy & Bro. got the Cedar Brook brand.

Jesse Moore AA, 1908

Trade journal advertisement headed Jesse Moore AA Whiskey, Best on Earth, with a halftone picture of a white haired man alone at a table with a glass and bottle, captioned Old Friends
"Old Friends." A photographic halftone where the 1890s ads used engravings.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1908, page 27. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr51301908311909sanfrich.

Jesse Moore made the whisky in Louisville and his partner Henry Hunt sold it from San Francisco. AA was the top grade.

Hanley Rye, El Rey and Brunswick, 1908

Trade journal page with three San Francisco whisky ads: Hanley Rye Whiskey, Good Goods; Siebe Bros. and Plagemann; and El Rey, the King of Whiskies, Kentucky Club
Three San Francisco house brands on one page.Pacific Wine and Spirit Review, San Francisco and Los Angeles, November 30, 1908, page 3. San Francisco Public Library copy, Internet Archive, pwsr51301908311909sanfrich.

McDonald & Cohn, selling El Rey here, had taken over the old Carroll & Carroll liquor house, founded in 1859, and kept it going until 1911.

More ads: 1880s and 1890s · 1910s

Sources

  1. Old Quaker Rye, about 1900. loc.gov
  2. Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, part 5, 1950. archive.org Source for the note on Old Quaker Rye.
  3. J. F. Cutter and John Ramsay Islay, 1900. archive.org
  4. Federal Cases report of the 1871 Cutter case. law.resource.org Source for the note on J. F. Cutter and John Ramsay Islay.
  5. Dawson's Perfection Scotch, 1900. archive.org
  6. Grace's Guide, Peter Dawson. gracesguide.co.uk Source for the note on Dawson's Perfection Scotch.
  7. Sunny Side All Rye, 1900. archive.org
  8. Brian Haara, "James E. Pepper's Fraud Previews the Taft Decision". brianhaara.com Source for the note on Sunny Side All Rye.
  9. Sunnybrook, the World's Fair medal, 1904. archive.org
  10. Indianapolis Times, November 23, 1933, page 13. loc.gov Source for the note on Sunnybrook.
  11. Old Kirk and Yellowstone, after the fire, 1906. archive.org
  12. San Francisco Landmark No. 12, Hotaling Buildings. noehill.com Source for the note on Old Kirk and Yellowstone.
  13. Cedar Brook, bottled in bond, 1906. archive.org
  14. Michael Veach, "19th Century Distillers: Judge William H. McBrayer". bourbonveach.com Source for the note on Cedar Brook.
  15. Jesse Moore AA, 1908. archive.org
  16. True West, "The Myth of Whiskey". truewestmagazine.com Source for the note on Jesse Moore AA.
  17. Hanley Rye, El Rey and Brunswick, 1908. archive.org
  18. Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Western whiskey wholesale merchants. fohbc.org Source for the note on Hanley Rye.