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.
I have been looking at the statistics for the year 1889 that you have provided in your post. It appears that the "bottles, demijohns, carboys etc." imported to San Francisco from Europe totaled $80,500. The Eastern & Western states production of the same type of bottles for 1889 totaled $1,000,000. Seems to me that a little less than 10% of the bottles used in the west were imported from Europe. If the statement "nearly all our beer and wine bottles are imported from Europe" is true then only 10% of bottles used in the west were for beer & wine. I think that there are some statements and facts in the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that just don't jive.
ReplyDeleteg.o.
You must factor in the cost of union labor, which was three to five times the wages paid to similar workers in Europe. San Francisco glass houses could not provide a quality product, so export bottlers were forced to go elsewhere to find a satisfactory bottle.
ReplyDeleteThis also indicates that the local manufacturers were not keeping up with the techniques of even the Eastern glass makers. Maybe this is why crudely made bottles continued to be blown at local glass manufacturing houses until the early 20th C.
John, Awesome article ! Thanks for posting it. It sheds even more info on my original German Connection theory. This whole importation thing was apparently much more extensive than even I realized. I've also always wondered over the yrs why there are very few 1890s embossed Western beers. Well, they were probably all turn-mold slicks from Europe w/ labels on them ! I've also always felt that many of the embossed 80's S.F. beers had an "Easterny" look to them and didnt come out of the ground very clean. Could some of these have been blown in Illinois?? I think it's a strong possibility. I've seen a few early Toledo beers that look eerily close to some of the 80s S.F. beers.
ReplyDeleteThe Germans appeared to have been experts at producing round bottles that were consistant in shape and color, and nice and smooth for a wrinkle-free label to be slapped on. But when our liqour dealers here in Cal started demanding copy-cat proof embossed bottles, the Germans appeared to be a little off their game and cruder producing their wares. Every colored, flintless, embossed bottle they made now required them to stop the spinning and start using sectional 2 and 4 pc molds to get that embossing on the bottle. Maybe iron was a little different than the clay molds there were accustomed to, because it appears they had a little trouble with mold temperature quality control, resulting in bottles sporting a heavy whittled effect. The whittled effect on their embossed bottles is so constant, it's almost as if they did it intentionally for some specific purpose. Anyone have any ideas on this? I cant imagine then not having the engineering capacity to overcome this, so I only can think it was done purposely for some other benefit (ok, other than turning-on bottle collectors 100 years later !)
I also found it very interesting to see Mr Denicke of the Fredercksburg brewery to be involved in the bottle quest. Coincidentally, his red-amber German-blown San Jose Fredericksburg bottle is one of the earliest red-amber or German embossed beer bottle imports to Cal !
He sure showed them... build a glass factory that can make strong bottles in large quantities for the local brewers or he'll get Germany to start making embossed bottles too for the West ! He may have started it for the other brewers. Those San Jose Freds turn-up in quite a bit earlier holes than the other reds and greens.
Also was very interesting to read about the failed attempts at establishing a glass factories in Oakland/Berkeley. This had to be referring to the very short-lived O.G.W. (Oakland Glass Works) that lasted only in 1885. I have seen base embossed O.G.W. bottles on flasks, bitters, a few 1/5s, and demijohns. But.... no beers or sodas. Could this be because those types held pressurized products and the glass was not strong enough to support the pressure? Has anyone seen an O.G.W. beer??
AP