Our wonderful selection of both glass and stoneware bottles sold at Auction on Wednesday 8th August in the Antique and Interiors Sale realising a total of £515
Pictured here are a selection of Stoneware advertising Ginger Beer bottles from a range of distributors, including from North Eastern England.
After brewing, ginger beer was corked inside stoneware bottles. The earlier stoneware bottles and those brewed locally in North America were brown in colour, etched with the bottler’s name or city and relatively simple. The 1880s, however, seen the rise of sleeker looking grey/cream bottle that displayed colourful shoulder slips and stamped logos designed to attract consumer attention became more popular.
The reason for bottling Ginger Beer in stone instead of the more largely used glass bottle was in part to do with the colouring of Ginger Beer, which has an unattractive cloudy appearance. The functionality of packing was also imperative due to the exportation of large amounts of Ginger Beer to the US. Ginger Beer was brewed regionally but England remained dominant in the market due to their superior bottling and quality stoneware that maintained the beers effervescence. The bottles were sealed with liquid- and gas-tight Bristol Glaze and wired and corked shut to maintain carbon dioxide in the solution.