Old Mexico

[Semar]

I found this (with contents) at the Wellfleet Drive In Flea mkt this Fall.
Eight bucks later it was mine, comes with a handy shoulder cord for drink while U walk activities.
This is a BIM bottle with an applied lip; I figure it's from the prohibition era.
Rum Brandy.
And no, I did not try a sip.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Was there a lot of rum-running happening between Mexico and the US during Prohibition? I've always heard about the massive smuggling industry from Canada to the US but I never hear about what was happening on the southern border. The fact that this bottle is so ornamental while also clearly being intended for an English-speaking market makes me think it might be pre-pro instead, or maybe very shortly after Prohibition and aimed at US tourists. It seems unlikely that rum intended for smuggling would bother with the ribbons and tassles. Of course it's also possible it was meant for export to some other English-speaking country and made its way to the US afterwards.

 

[Semar]

I was reading a bit about Mexico and Prohibition. It seems that during this period Tijuana grew from a dusty little town to a quite large one. Americans had to have been going across the border to get a legal drink during the prohibition years which might explain Tijuana's rapid growth back then; prohibition must have boosted the economy of many a Mexican border town; Nogales and Juarez also must have gotten an economic shot in the arm. The Mexican border must have been pretty porous back in the day so It must have been fairly easy to cross undetected. I can't imagine that large scale smuggling of booze wasn't happening.
As to the English tag on the bottle; I can't speak to that and am not going to claim that the bottle was smuggled or sold during the prohibition era. I do know that the applied lip on the container is real and the container and all the dressing, wicker cover and very old looking labels speak to a pretty old product. So pre prohibition or post prohibition production are quite possible. One thing is certain; it is old it was blown in a mold and a hand finished lip was applied.