Canadian Beer Bottle.

[mctaggart67]

The Detroit Regal lager could be a post-prohibition imitator of a brand smuggled into Detroit during American prohibition. Perhaps the Hamilton, Ontario brand and/or its nifty name and tag line appealed to some Detroiters who got into brewing after 1933. By the way, Hamilton is only a few hours away from Detroit by train. It was a common practice to ship beer by train on "ghost" cars during American prohibition. Labatt did it. Carling did it. Heuther in Kitchener did it. Sleeman in Guelph did it (all the while forgetting to pay the Canadian taxes, by the way). The Sarnia Brewing Co. did it. And so on. It was easily done if you could get train crews and yard workers to co-operate. They simply added a "ghost" car or two to an already "manifested" train on the Canadian side and then had American rail yard workers make the ghosts disappear on the American side before customs agents made their inspections. The marine smuggling gets the thrust of the attention because it was so dramatic, with boat chases and all, but I dare say most of the prohibition trade was by rail.

 

[covert-]

Being from Hamilton, that bottle piqued my interest.

I believe this was tied in to the Grant Spring brewery in Hamilton, at the corner of Bay and Barton streets. The rebuilt building still stands today but houses a used furniture store. http://workerscity.ca/19th-century-industry/spring-brewery/

Not sure how rare it is, we see them turn up periodically in our trips to antique stores and auctions in town. I think the brewery closed in the 1930s.

Hope that helps.

Ryan