H.R. PRENTICE 1873

[RIBottleguy]

Nice stoneware beer! Henry R. Prentice started brewing beer in Providence, RI but had moved to Seekonk, Mass by the 1870s.

 

[jwpevahouse]

Stoneware mead bottles date from 1840 to 1870s. The NJ examples I've seen were dated 1846, 1854 and one Trenton example from the early 1870s. After 1880 they apparently lost popularity like the "squat bottle" and were to never return. I've read mead, a beer made with honey, was one of the first fermented alcoholic drinks in Europe. For that reason I suspect the choice of a crude stoneware bottle emphasized it's deep historical significance.