Bar Decanters

[Dangermonkey]

Does anyone know when Bar Decanters started to be used? When did they stop? ( The clear bottles with Engraved Names of Whiskey on them That were used in Bars prior to Distillers Bottling their Product) Also any books on the different names? I have two ( Barnnets Popular and Freed's Finest) and have had no luck tracking them down.Thanks!

The Pleasures of Exile are Imperfect at Best,At Worst They Rot the Liver

[cowdery]

Contact the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History in Bardstown, KY. They have a large collection of them and can probably give you some dates. My best guess would be post Civil War, which was when Kentucky whiskey began to be shipped far and wide by rail. Mass produced bottles were still in the future so the whiskey was shipped in barrels and the bar owner was given a blown glass bottle to serve it from.

- chuck

[cowdery]

I should have read the rest of your post. The practice stopped after the Bottled-in-Bond Act was passed in 1897 and was dealt a final blow when mass produced bottles became available after 1903. The "names" on the bottles are the names of bourbon brands or distilleries. There were probably hundreds of different brands marketed this way, hence hundreds of different names.

- chuck