1900-1909 Salt Glaze Pottery-Ginger Beer Bottle from R.M. Bird & Co, United Kingdom

This item is pretty unique and is rare; due to the fact that this item is not a reproduction or a massed produced item.
This is an early-Edwardian Era, made between January 1901 to May 1910 “Stoney Split” of Fermented Ginger Beer. (no seal or cork)
A “split” is a small serving or a half pint of beer in an English Pub. Normally, these bottles held 10 to 12 imperial fluid ounces (roughly 284 to 341 ml).
A “stoney” refers to an English slang term for the stoneware bottles and tankards of English national potters. These vessels were used to pour spirits, ales, and ginger beers into and served in the pubs across Warwickshire, United Kingdom.
Warwickshire was home to several pubs serving their own versions of “Ginger Beer”. Ginger beer originated in Yorkshire, England, in the mid-1700s. Driven by the Colonial-Caribbean spice trade when early British brewers combined water, sugar, lemon, and ginger. This mixture was fermented with a starter culture of yeast and Lactobacillus-known as a "ginger bug" or "ginger beer plant"-resulting in a naturally bubbly, alcoholic drink.
In Warwickshire, pubs and breweries (merchants) would be furnished or sold ginger beer bottles from a domestic salt-glaze stoneware manufacturer, in various places like London (Royal Doulton), Derbyshire (Denby Pottery) or even Staffordshire. Brewers would then dip them in a darker glaze, covering the furnace factory’s finished glazes (Bristol or salt). Content information and trademarks were stenciled or embossed into the darker glaze to identify the various pubs and breweries. Bottles such as this one, fermented ginger beer was poured into the bottle, sealed with a cork and a bottle tablet medallion.

This Ginger Beer product was made, trademarked, and sold by businessman and brewer Richard M. Bird. Bird had a multi-branch company named R.M. Bird & Co. with a pub attached between 1899 to approximately 1938. His company boasted a play on Richard’s last name as the trademark…a bird.
The company operated as a prominent brewery, wine merchant, and mineral water manufacturer based at 32 Bridge Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, England. In the attached pub, Bird brewed and sold his Fermented Ginger Beer in these salt-glazed bottles that were made by James Stiff & Sons (1845-1912) pottery in Lambeth, London.
R.M. Bird & Co. was defunct around 1938 when a Stratford-upon-Avon couple, Vera and Bill Gregory operated the spirits portion of the company as well as the pub from roughly 1938 until March 1944 making these bottles a memory.

Great shape and patina (see photos)
Weighs 1 pound 2 ounces (empty)
Approximately 7” Tall with a 2.75 diameter base and a 9-inch bottle circumference. GREAT FOR DISPLAYING!!

DID YOU KNOW?
America was getting drunk on ginger beer from the United Kingdom of Great Britain (Scotland) and Ireland at the turn of the 20th century! But...during Prohibition in the United States, traditional fermented ginger beer largely disappeared. It was widely replaced by non-alcoholic beverage that simulated the refreshing quencher like ginger beer. Beverage vendors chose ginger ale—a carbonated, sugar-heavy soft drink invented in Ireland. Ginger Ale is still popular in America today....92 years after Ginger beer resumed American production 😊

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STANDS IN PHOTOS NOT INCLUDED WITH PURCHASE OF THIS ITEM!
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