Anyone use old bottles? I mean reeeaaalllly old?

[Reddy]

I was in an antique store today and he had a bunch of old beer bottles. We're talking super old here.... some from the mid-1800's, other from around 1900 to prohibition or so. I bought 7 just because they were from Ohio, one being from my hometown (a tiny, tiny little river town that before pro. had it's own brewery, which was recently torn down ). Two others were from one brewery in Columbus, three from another brewery in Columbus and one from Toledo. Very cool....

2 or 3 are so old that they were originally capped with corks and wire while the others are from around the turn of the century and use crown caps. I'm thinking of using them (the crown-capped ones) if I can get them cleaned up enough. They're ridiculously thick so I'm not too concerned about bottle bombs and would make great conversation pieces.

Anyone else done this? Opinions?

 

[Revvy]

I've got 3 cases of pints that are about 30 years old, from some PA breweries. I have my first batch in them, and they're just coming online this week, hopefully.

I love them, they are thick and heavy, and have these rub bands around them from going through the bottling line line countless times. That's the oldest I've gotten my hands on, though now that garage sale season is in full swing, who knows what treasures I may find...

I'm looking for some bottles from the same era as yours...

Oh, post a picture of them why dontcha?

 

[Reddy]

Wow, those pints of yours sound awesome. They just don't make 'em like they used to huh?

I'll post a pic when I get them cleaned up. The one from my hometown brewery ("G&W Brewing Co.") proved to have a hairline crack in the bottom so it'll just be for decoration. Two of the ones from C-bus have cleaned up pretty nice, the rest look like they spent some time in a hog waller so I'm soaking them in bleach water... for a week or more at least... 2 or 3 have wire-cork caps so they won't be usable so it looks like I'll only be using 3 or 4.

This really makes you think about history and the history of beer... around here we used to have a large German population who worked in the coal mines and salt works. So many that there once was a local paper printed in German.

I can just imagine one of those guys getting off work and drinking down a cool locally-brewed beer from the bottle soaking in my sink right now. That would have been around 1880-1920... The salt works are gone, the coal mines are gone, the brewery is gone, that guy is gone... but the bottle remains and I could be drinking from it for years to come.

Simply amazing.

 

[Revvy]

That's awesome. I'm reading a great book on the history of brewing in America right now.

I'm actually right at the point where Miller is introducing the first can...

The book is fantastic. Here's a website on it if you are interested. http://www.ambitiousbrew.com/

There's also a cool 2 part interview with the author on basic brewin radio

November 30, 2006 - Ambitious Brew Part One
We learn about the history of beer in the USA from Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew - The Story of American Beer." Part one takes us from the Pilgrims to Prohibition.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr11-30-06.mp3

December 7, 2006 - Ambitious Brew Part Two
We continue our discussion about the history of beer in the USA with Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew - The Story of American Beer." Part two takes us from Prohibition to the present day.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr12-07-06.mp3

 

[Toppers]

Wow great audio clips there. So interesting about cider, and why it was THE drink in this country for so long. I know I liked cider for a reason, it's so easy to brew up.