Mondial Liberty another photo

Here is a better photo.

Mondial Liberty Beer

Was able to land this phenominal piece from San Francisco. I have been told (thanks JOHN) that the bottlers of this beer were located on Lombard St. between 1914 and 1919. This sign obviously from an Italian family who migrated to the city in the 1870's. You can see how World War I is prominent in the artwork of this sign. I collect SF beer advertising but mostly 1930's and 1940's stuff. This sign came to me and I couldn't pass it up. Please email your posts If you have anything to add...This sign was found at an estate sale of a former doctor in San Diego a couple of months ago.

Wilmot Brewing Co.

Awhile ago I mentioned having a copy of the Wilmot Brewing Co. label, which I finally found in my files. Charles Willmott (yes, I believe that is the way he usually spelled his name) was born in England about 1823. By 1860 he was in San Francisco and proprietor of the Burton Ale Brewery in North Beach. As noted earlier he was instrumental in the formation of the Swan Brewery but left in 1876 and formed the Wilmot Brewery. I am not sure how long the Wilmot Brewery lasted but by at least 1892 Willmott was involved with the San Francisco Stock Brewery. He died June 12, 1911, in San Francisco at age 83.

Willmott married Mary Jones who was English born as well. They married either late 1860 or early 1861, likely in San Francisco, for their first born appeared in 1861. The couple eventually had 12 children, nine of whom were still alive in 1900. Mary Willmott died in San Francisco December 28, 1911.

Swan Brewery Trademarks for all Products

After Eric mentioned the Trademarks, I went to digging through my files and found my copy of the original trademarks for Swan Brewery for February 7, 1879. It lists not only the XXX Ale, but Pale Ale and Brownstout.....Heavy English style ales, that I doubt I personally would have enjoyed. Mr. George Hudson is listed as the President of the Company when the trademark was filed.

More Archival losses

I was cruising through the trade mark claims and decided to have a few pulled to see what sort of labels were remaining. It was disgusting to find that most of the early labels had been pilfered. I have seen these labels in other visits and was contemplating having a few copied. Jacob Denzler's claim of 11 May 1881 is one that stands out. His trademark was for the bottle with the three beer guzzling bears and the beer it contained, Philadelphia Export Lager Beer. The label envelope contained only traces of dust. The whiskey trademarks are worse, with bitters a close second. Complete files were stolen in the 1970s, and especially hard hit was A.P. Hotaling. The only complete file of his is the 1881 trademark for the A No 1, OK and Pure Old Rye bottles with the barrels on them.

Swan Brewery Ad from Theatre Program 1877

This advertisement is from the Figaro Theatre Program from 1877 in San Francisco. Swan Ale, everybody drinks it and everybody likes it. I think there are currently around 40-50 swan beers in collections. It is by no means a rare bottle, but it does have a desirability factor that collectors appreciate. We should do a inventory count. I have three total, two in shades of green, and one in amber with the taller lip. Anyone else care to add in? Most seem to be dug in San Francisco, anyone dig any specimens from other cities ot towns?

The Brewers and San Francisco Glass Production

This post is reconfirmation of TQ's original German Connection as taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1890. It includes interviews with a numer of the brewers who expound on the virtues of the german glassworks producing a superior and cost effective glass products. It further states that almost all beer and wine bottles coming into San Francisco are from Germany. It is a great read for anyone interested in California Glass Production.

Swan Brewery 1877 Chinese Labor Dispute

Attached is an article from 1877 talking about the threats the Swan Brewery received due to its employment of Chinese labor which caused a great deal of attention at the time from movements led by Dennis Kearny against the "heathen chinee". Some paid blackmail to keep from being burned out of their operations. The govt. actually had a Chinese exclusion act passed in 1882 which prevented further immigration by Chinese and prevented naturalization or citizenship. San Francisco had a large Chinese population and was heavily prejudiced against the foreigners.

More Swan Brewery

John's photo of the Swan Brewery Co. billhead got me to look a little deeper. Charles Wilmot was a brewer in San Francisco as early as 1869 (per directory listings). He formed a partnership with Thomas Shepherd in either late 1870 or early 1871, under the name of Swan Brewery Co. Apparently they met with some good success and decided to "go public" in 1875 when the partnership incorporated and took on additional trustees. Some of these people are separate stories in themselves. More about that later.

Not long after incorporation Charles Wilmot left Swan Brewery Co. (July 1876). It is likely this is when he he opened his Wilmot Brewing Co. The Swan Brewery Co. filed for bankruptcy in August 1881.

Swan Brewery Letterhead 1871

This is a photo of a Swan Brewery Letterhead dated 1871, indicating brewers and bottlers of Pale Ale, XXX Ale & Porter. For five dozen cases of Porter the cost is $15.00, which works out to who knows what depending upon how many bottles were in a case, doubt they had six packs in those days.......courtesy of the Wells Fargo Museum in Old Town San Diego, which has had this invoice on display for at least ten years. Tried to get this out of them, but no luck......Sorry about the quality of the photo but it is behind glass and covered by plastic, so gentlemen this is as good as it gets.

Swan Brewery Trademark Feb. 4, 1879

Eric McGuire was kind enough to send me a copy of the trademark for Swan Brewery and the following comments.

The Swan Brewing Co. trademarked a series of labels for their products on 4 February 1879. The attached is an example of one. The question remains whether the company bottled beer in its embossed bottles prior to this date. The company's bottles don't have the words "trade mark", so it is possible the mold was cut prior to 1879.

Eric, when I was surfing the web some years ago, I hit upon a micro brewers site that took me to a restuarant set up in an old train car located in Old Town Sacramento, and in the bar area was two labeled Swan Beers on two black glass bottles, so I suspect they used any bottle they could up to the point they cut their own molds. Went to look for them last time I went to old town, but the restaurant was closed, so I have not a clue what happened to them. Being that it is in a State Park, perhaps they sit in a vault gathering copius amounts of dust.

I have gone by the site of the brewery which is on a corner just across the street from Mission Delores, where an apartment building now sits. Anyone out their ever dug it or nearby? Must have one hellacious bottle dump full of Swans and Wilmots......the stuff dreams are made of. They put up a condo project in the 1980's just down the block on Guerrero and Warren Wood and I tried digging there but the clay soils and summer weather proved impossible and we never even saw a shard......Ned and Andrew what are you waiting for? Opportunity knocks........