Bearded Old Man Whiskey Bottle

sunrunner said:

is it papaw Wever ?. Spirit Bear ?

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lucyglass said:

>Clear bottle w/cap tho dented, can still read the stamped words "Montreal Canada consolidated distilleries made in usa"
>Old man w/bootlegger hat and a beard that wraps around to back of bottle...

I'm happy to report I've finally determined which whiskey came in this distinctive bottle.

In the comments, it's been noted the stylized G&W on the bottom of the bottle refers to Gooderham & Worts, which merged with Hiram Walker in 1926.

The brand is harder to narrow down, as I found it difficult to come up with a comprehensive list of their products. But thanks to this online publication, I believe I found the answer!

https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1928-Goderham-and-Worts-ABC-of-Mixing-cocktails1/

Go to page 11, and you can just make out the distinctive design of the embossed bottle. It only shows the front, but the title lends a clue to the design as well.

https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1928-Goderham-and-Worts-ABC-of-Mixing-cocktails1/11

I posted it here as well: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj2hXGnlhzx/

Old Cutter American Bourbon Whiskey features an illustration of a pair of tall ships and a lighthouse. But Old Cutter also refers to the old man on the back, an ode to John Hastings Cutter (1807-1860), American Whiskey pioneer. Cutter himself had called his own whiskey Old Cutter. You can read some more background here:

http://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2017/11/c-p-moorman-and-cutter-connection.html

I have two styles of this bottle; one has a slightly taller neck, and appears to be older. The other looks virtually identical in every other way, but for a shorter neck and slightly different thread. You can see from the image in the 1928 Cocktail book that the bottle came with a metal shot-glass cap. I don't know if both styles of this bottle would have had such a cap, and from the sounds of the original post, the cap which read "Montreal Canada Consolidated Distilleries" would not have been the original cap (though it's probably interchangeable).

I could not find ANY other advertising or marketing for G&W's Old Cutter whatsoever. There must have been some form of promotion out there, so time will tell if anything further surfaces.

In my attempts to track down this bottle, I started a list of G&W products. It's not comprehensive in any way, and many come from the online book above, though some of the others are from ads elsewhere:

Two Star Blended Whiskey
Three Star Blended Whiskey
Five Star Blended Whiskey
Seven Star Blended Whiskey
Four Roses Canadian Rye Whisky
Argyle Old Nectar Whisky
Adair's Scots Whisky, bottled by Gooderham & Worts
Carstairs Pure American Rye Whiskey
G&W American Bourbon
G&W Bonded Stock Canadian Whisky
G&W Mill Farm Straight Bourbon Whiskey
G&W Old Rye Whisky
G&W Private Stock Blended Whiskey
G&W Special Rye Whiskey
Gold Label Bourbon
Gold Label Rye
Gold Lion Cocktails
Hyde Park Old Tom Gin
Old Cutter American Bourbon Whiskey
Old Judge Bourbon Whiskey
Old Overholt American Rye
Plantation Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Royal York Five Star Old Highland Whisky

They spelling of whiskey probably denotes an American market brand, whereas whisky was probably destined for the Canadian market, and/or perhaps those were the blends with Scottish lineage.

And one last tangent, I also noticed a Red Ribbon whiskey for Loeser's circa 1936. The ad said it was made by Hiram Walker, but since the two firms had merged some 10 years earlier, it could just as well have been G&W who assisted with this private label brand.

When I was living in Toronto, I loved seeing the transformation of the Distillery District from an 'off limits' abandoned warehouse (and perpetual film set) to a vibrant new gallery district. It's been a while since I've been back, and I would be willing to bet there's not enough visible history from the distillery on permanent display. Hopefully this post will help to raise the profile of Gooderham and Worts ephemera, as well as answer the age old question, who's that old man on that bottle!

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jmv said:

lucyglass said:

>Clear bottle w/cap tho dented, can still read the stamped words "Montreal Canada consolidated distilleries made in usa"
>Old man w/bootlegger hat and a beard that wraps around to back of bottle...

I'm happy to report I've finally determined which whiskey came in this distinctive bottle...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...