Old Quaker Rye

[shennig608]

Found on a Flea Market an old bottle of "Old Quaker". On a search on Internet i cannot find any Information? On ebay i found additional old bottles. I am looking for Infos where that Rye come from, which time this Rye were bottled, Destillery information etc.. For every thankful information i am happy. regards Stefan

[kitzg]

Stefan, ich kann ein bißen kuken heute abend zu hause. Besten dank.

For the rest of you I was basically telling him I'l check. Sorry but he's German and we can tell he'll appreciate the native tongue. PLEASE don't say I'm showing off. I simply worked years for a German firm.

[MurphyDawg]

bißen

I dunno if your shoeing off, or really care, I just wanna know how to make the kewlass "B" in that word.

TomC

[jbewley]

Sure, it's two years after you asked, but I came across a few interesting things on Old Quaker Rye.

1. It was listed on the state of Maine's 1934 liquor list, so that gives you a ballpark idea of when it was around. Check out the list at Excel Spreadsheet of Maine 1934 Liquor List.

2. I found a Sept 2003 auction listing for a full bottle of it at McTears Sept 2003 Auction. The contents of that auction entry were:

Old Quaker Rye-1917

Made Spring 1917, bottled Fall 1933. Produced by Corning Distilling Co., Illinois. One aluminium cap, paper tax strip dated as above, slightly torn. One screw cap, paper tax strip dated as above, completely in tact though lacking labels. One in original carton. Level: 3cm from base of cap and 4cm from base of screw cap. 100 degrees proof

So you know that it was being sold in the early 1930's, if nothing else, and it was distilled in Illinois.

Additionally, I found an entry in another auction (for an empty bottle) showing Old Quaker from 1909, but I'm unsure as it whether that was the bottling date or the production date (I'd assume the bottling date).

I hope this helps a little..

[jeff]

Also, the "U.S.P" on the lable stands for: United States Pharmacopia. This probably indicates its use as a "medicinal" product during prohibition.

[cowdery]

That spreadsheet of 1934 prices is pretty cool. It's interesting to compare a quart of Old Grand-Dad bond, at 5.90, or even the "four summers old" Old Crow at $4.40, to the "young, straight" Patrick Henry at $2.10. Assuming that the rules for straight whiskey were pretty similar to what they are now, "young, straight" would mean two years old (and probably not a day more).

[Gillman]

Very informative, that 1934 Maine liquor selection.

Note:

no vodka on the list whatever; and

the whiskeys are carefully classified, first, by whether bourbon or rye, and second, by grade and price. The first whiskeys mentioned under each of "Bourbon" and "Rye" are, I think, pre-Prohibition whiskeys. The 4 year bondeds (thus presumably made under permits during Volstead) come next, then the young straights (under Rye it just says "straight"), blendeds, blends, etc. I think blended meant all-straight whiskey mixtures; blends meant straight whiskey mixed with neutral spirits (some of the names clearly say so, e.g. "51%").

The Canadians appear to be all straight whiskeys whether rye, bourbon or blended straights, unlike the Canadians of today which are blends incorporating near-GNS in large amounts. Because there is no reference to blends as such in this area. (This may put into question the idea that cheap Canadian blends ruined the market for true rye).

The Scotch whiskies appear all to be blends - no single malts, at least no express mention. A number of the brands mentioned are still prominent today.

The wines and brandies are similar to what one finds today except the domestic selection is very small and forget Australia or Chile! The mention of 20 year old New England rum reminds us New England had an old industry making rum from imported sugar. Sounds from the list as if the trade did not revive after Volstead ended, or not in 1934 at any rate. There is no beer mentioned on this list, I think Heineken and Guinness started to come in around this time so it may have been too soon when this list was issued.

Considering that Maine was not at the time (and still is not) a cosmopolitan center and that the list was issued shortly after Repeal the selection is surprisingly sophisticated; it would be today no less given a few adjustments. By the way the commencement of the decline of straight rye, whatever its true reason, can be seen here. Even in the far northeast where rye had ascendancy before 1919 one can see here that bourbon was taking over. The bourbon brands are mentioned first and there are more of them.

Gary

[bourbonv]

Old Quaker, rye and bourbon, were brands sold by Schenley from the 1930's till the early 80's. It was made at their Lawrenceburg, Ind. distillery.

Mike