As the industry grew, standardization increased, as did business demands for efficiency and consumer demands for purity. Previous to 1890, bottlers may have been separated from the breweries, as required by law. Efficiency of closure was an aspect that helped ensure quality but the best bottling at this time was still only variations in stoppers. Then (eureka!), in 1892, came the invention and patent of the crown cork. Still, until its perfection several years later, leakage could still be a problem. There was also much progress to be made in automation and the coming adoption of the assembly line. But then came Prohibition and the end of an era in bottling beer, at least until Prohibition's end in 1933.
Find collectible beer bottles from domestic or imported brands from throughout brewing history. |
Collectible bottle caps from the brewing past. |
Post prohibition beer bottles and collecting
Post-Prohibition, much had changed in manufacturing and technology of course and bottling was never the same in terms of its restriction by those factors. Through to today, alterations in style are made by choice and for the purpose of deliberate individuality, not on the basis of restrictions or lack of standardization. After Prohibition, canning also was easier and popular and the beer canning industry created its own collectibles due also to changes to and restrictions in technology. (Check out beer can collectibles today.)
Almost all bottlers used automatic bottle making equipment and crown cap technology. Embossing slowly grew out of vogue as well so there was simply much less distinction.
Throughout much of the rest of 20th and early 21st century collectible beer bottles are still produced but these are most often created deliberately. Special occasions or promotions (Olympics, NASCAR, etc.) also create collectible beer bottles. There can be little doubt that there will be continued changes in the future of packaging and bottling that will make today's beer bottles unique and collectible.
While there are still collectible beer bottles produced even today, these are not nearly as unique and simply fun as the classic pre-Prohibition, pre- standardization era of the classic collectible beer bottles of the mid to late 19th and very early 20th century, and these rare bottles from the earliest era of bottling will only continue to increase in value as time goes on.
