This document–Registered Beverage Trade Marks Covering the Period from 1881 to 1939 Compiled from the records in the United States Patent Office (Distilled Alcoholic Liquors)–may be the keys to the kingdom of names of booze(s) trademarked in this country. 15″ tall, an inch thick, and 296 sheets big, this work (copyrighted by the Trademark Records Bureau (in the National Press Club Building in DC, the one with the problematic parking garage) lists some 7,500 names of whiskey, cordials, gin, rye, bourbon and who knows what else. RARE. I cannot find another copy, nor is there any scent of it in the WorldCat/OCLC. This is from the Library of Congress, with a few scant LC stamps. $2000.
So I sat down with this book for an hour pulling out interesting, odd, out-of-place, from-another time and bizarre names, including all manner of expected animal names like bull and elk, and then unicorn; and lots of sunny this-and-that, sloping/sunny/grassy hills, mountains, clubs; and of course the Old _____ category seem fairly filled up.
If I spent a little more time on this entire alphabets could be produced relating to nothing but names from the animal kingdom, flora, the sciences, professions, religion, states of mind, altered states, literature, and the labels that suggest a possible medical benefit. One of my favorite categories is the “conversational liquor label”, the label that speaks to you, invites you, tells you what to do with the bottle of booze: Hava Cocktail and Uneeda Whiskey are good examples of that, as are You’re Lookin Good, Uvanta and Yugeta whiskeys. Another is the liquor name ending in “o”, like the beautiful Famo, from St. Jo, MO, which unfortunately wasn’t trademarked in ’00. The label of suggested promise and outcome is another good one: Kentucky Courage, Pleasant Dreams, Invincible Rye, Solace Whiskey and Ready Money are all good examples of the implied end-of-bottle pillow-fluffer…maybe, especially, The Old Solution whiskey.
And then of course, there are those where the (creative) spirit has just flown away, like the lumpily-named Standard Spirits Whiskey, its hometown of New Orleans embarrassed by the lack of effort–especially in the light of some many hundreds of imaginative creations, like the fabulous Bone Factor Whiskey (1903), which like so many other great names (Yellow Hammer Whiskey) comes from Louisville, Kentucky.
Antediluvium Whiskey, NYC, 1898; Anti-Grippine Whiskey, Philadelphia, 1906; Ash Cake Whiskey, Lynchburg, VA. 1899, Auto Crat Whiskey (St. Louis, MO), 1905
Bank Check Whiskey, Boston, 1900; Bone Factor, 1903;
Caloric Whiskey, 1904; Cremo Whiskey, 1902; and the confusing Chickencock “potable spirits”, 1929
Devil’s Island Benefactor Gin, 1905; Daily Mash Whiskey, 1935; Dandilyon Whiskey, Columbus, OH, 1906;
Electric Whiskey, Cincinnati, 1890;
Flow Whiskey, Pittsburgh, 1908; Famo Whiskey, St. Jo, Mo 1894; Faust’s Own Whiskey, Phila, 1900.
Gopher Gin, St. Paul, 1902; Gas Away, Columbus OH, 1902; Galoxy Whiskey, NYC, 1905; Gong “ethyl alcohol, etc,” 1932′ Georgia Watermelon, 1911
Hen Bolt Whiskey, 1889; Hava Cocktail, NYC, 1933; Hospitality Gin, Louisville, KY, 1900
Index Whiskey, Cincinnati, 1906; Invincible Rye, 1900
Jupiter Gin, Boston, 1905; Judge’s Preference, Boston, 1905;
Kentucky Courage Whiskey, Lexington, 1900
Marconi Whiskey, Birmingham, 1903
Old Tom Gin, 1887 (There are any number of Old ____ labels: Old Crow, Old Man River, Old Count, Old Court, Old Coon, Old King Cole, Old Rock, Old Moss, Old Soldier, and so on–there’s a specialized sub-alphabet in this category, alone.) Perhaps my favorite “old” is The Old Solution, Baltimore, 1900.
Peeper Whiskey, Lexington, KY, 1880; Pen and Pencil Club Rye, Phila, 1894; Pleasant Dreams Whiskey
Radium Whiskey, Terre Haute, 1905; Rolling Fork Whiskey, Lexington, KY, 1876; Ready Money Whiskey
Sun Shot Cordial, Birmingham, AL, 1901; [SWASTIKA emblem, no name] Whiskey, Frankfort, KY, 1902; Suburban Whiskey, Boston, 1909; Solace Whiskey, Balto, 1900
Tidal Wave Whiskey, Houston, 1905
Uncle Tom Whiskey, Cincinnati, 1905; Uneedda Whiskey, Davenport IA, 1899; Uvanta Whiskey, Louisville, KY, 1905
Vitoline Brandy, St. Paul, 1897
Yugeta Whiskey, Plymouth, PA, 1906; You’re Lookin Good Whiskey, D.C., 1902; Yellow Hammer Whiskey, Louisville, 1905
Zeno, Ace of Clubs Whiskey
And to sew up the specialty market in school-named liquors, Lawrence McCormick of Baltimore trademarked whiskey names for Brown, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge, Cornell, Swarthmore, Chicago, Oxford and of course Lehigh University, not to mention various label designs that featured books and “philosophical instruments” emblazoned on shields and rocks and such, all perhaps for those in search of higher education.
Spanish-American War Scrapbook, February-July 1898. 11”x 9”, 30 cardboard sheets nicely filled front and back with newspaper clippings principally from Washington D.C. newspapers of the major events. This had been bound at top with red, white, and blue ribbon through three-hole punched (at top and bottom) ready-made scrapbook (sold by “Baum’s”, 416 7th St.,Washington DC.) $400
