Hoping to learn about Frostie-like bottle found in crawl space

[SODABOB]

Thanks Shade

Long story short ...

If we knew the date of justonebottle's Old Fashion bottle it would likely clear up a lot of the mystery. We know the bottle has Catonsville on it, so all we need now is to hear from them and hopefully see a photo of the base. By the way, is anyone aware of another example of that exact bottle? And I don't mean just a photo of the front of the bottle but one that shows the base with a date?

Bob

 

[shadeone]

That would clear up a lot!!
I have never seen the bottom of one of the non-frostie "old fashion" bottles, just the few pictures floating around of the fronts.

 

[SODABOB]

I just bought TWO bottles on eBay. One of them you already know about that I posted images of earlier and apparently has B 42 on the base. The second one is a bit of a mystery and I am taking a gamble on it. I say that because the seller assured me the base mark is 13 B 41. I'm about 99.9% certain that the B stands for the Brockway Machine Bottle Company. Some of their bottles use the Circle-B mark and some of them just have the B without the circle. However, regardless of who made them or when, both of bottles are pretty cool. I spent at least two hours looking for another example of this particular bottle and could not find one. All I currently know about it is as follows ...

(Also see attachments) ...

Tasty - Reg. - Catonsville Bottling Co. - 13 B 41

Maybe shadeone has one of these bottles and/or knows something about it. I even looked for the Reg. (Registered) part but couldn't find anything related to that either. If it is a 1941 bottle, it's the earliest one I have seen by the Catonsville Bottling Co. According to the attached Brockway chart, the 13 represents their plant in Montgomery, Alabama. I will know more about both bottles when they arrive in about a week.

Bob

 

[shadeone]

Ooh, now there's one I haven't seen! Very cool!
I have a sneaking suspicion that "Tasty" was a flavor line that later became "Taste Treat" / the Frostie flavor line in the late 40s... I have nothing to base this on other than the fact that they sound similar haha!

 

[SODABOB]

Shade

Do you remember this one?

"Tasty Beverages"

You posted a photo of it earlier which I attached a cropped image of. Now check out what appears to be the same bottle on eBay. The seller claims it is from 1940 which I think is accurate. Even though I enhanced the base photo, the 40 is hard to make out, although the 0 is pretty clear. I'm pretty sure the B is for Brockway. If it is a 1940 bottle it now ranks as the earliest one I am aware for the Catonsville Bottling Co. Even though it is in terrible condition, I am tempted to buy it. It could be one of only a handful of known examples despite the condition. If you want it, you might want to act fast before someone else does.

rb.gy/qfw8l

Bob

Reminder: The first two images are not of the bottle on eBay. They are from a different source.However, the base photo is of the one on eBay.

 

[SODABOB]

P.S.

Stand by because I may have posted the wrong bottle. The one I posted is red whereas the one on eBay is blue. I will be back in a moment.

Bob

 

[shadeone]

I think the faded one on ebay is the blue "catonsville beverages", which would be the blue bottle to the right of the red one in the image you cropped down. Still a rare Catonsville bottle and one of the only two I have ever seen. My Frostie collecting days are over so I won't be bidding on it.

The other pics were on facebook, yet again with no frame of reference as to who owned them, where they came from and only a front shot:

 

[SODABOB]

Sorry bout that! Here is the right bottle - the blue one ...

Catonsville Beverages

But the one on eBay may still be a 1940 bottle.

Bob

 

[SODABOB]

Thanks Shade - at least we are on the same page (literally)

Bob

 

[SODABOB]

Shade, and All

Here's what I have come up with for a Catonsville Bottling timeline based on everything I am currently aware of. Please feel free to edit it if necessary. As you will see it is based on ads, bottles, trademark documents, etc. which are indicated accordingly. One of the main things I am trying to either confirm or dispute involves the claims that Frostie Root Beer originated in 1939. One of which is from Wikipedia ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostie_Root_Beer

As it stands now I think the 1939 start date for Frostie is a myth despite the various claims. However, I will keep an open mind and see what, if anything surfaces to refute this. As we know, there is ample evidence to support that Catonsville Bottling was in operation at least as early as 1939. Even though there are no actual bottles I am aware of that are dated 1939, there are ads from 1939 showing that Catonsville Bottling either bottles and/or distributed Nichol Kola at that time. Hence, I will start with Nichol Kola in the following timeline ...

1939 = Nichol Kola
1940 = George Rackensperger & Joseph Nitsch census (Beverage Industry)
1940 = Catonsville Beverages - eBay bottle (Unconfirmed but possible)
1941 = Tasty - My eBay bottle (To be determined)
1942 = Frostie Old Fashion (Trademark document - First use June 1942)
1942 = My blank eBay bottle (To be determined)
1943 = ???
1944 = Old Fashion Root Beer (Newspaper ad shows illustration of bottle)
1945 = Old Fashion Root Beer (Help wanted newspaper ad)
1945 = Taste Treat BOTTLE (Shadeone)
1946 = Frostie Old Fashion Root Beer BOTTLE (Shadeone)
1947 = Frostie Company established
1947 = Frostie Old Fashion Root Beer (Newspaper ad shows illustration)

If accurate, it appears that the earliest likely date for Frostie Root Beer is the reference found in the trademark documents that claim a first use from June of 1942. However, that too is questionable because there doesn't appear to be anything else to support the claim that early. It isn't until shadeone's 1946 bottle that we have confirmation. If we include all of the stuff related to "Old Fashion Root Beer" then I suppose there might be a case for an earlier date made with that, but for me the Old Fashion brand and the Frostie brand are not identical. Hence, until something surfaces one way or another to either confirm or refute any of the claims, I am leaning toward 1946 as the earliest fully confirmed date for Frostie Old Fashion Root Beer. What say y'all?

Bob