Posted 5 years ago
AnythingOb…
(1778 items)
A Goodwill score today simply because it appealed to me and was kinda cheap, also because it looked kinda old. [and anyone that even slightly follows my usual posts around here would already know I've got a fondness for 'booze branded barware' anyways, no matter what exact sorta thing...? <lol>]
This is a smallish off-white glazed ceramic pitcher, roughly 7"h x 6"w overall. It is decorated on both sides with the "WALKER'S DeLuxe BOURBON AGED 8 YEARS" logo with a thin oval border plus accents to its top rim, spout, and handle, all in gold/gilt. It is uniformly sorta 'crazed', and has a "WADE REGICOR, ENGLAND" maker's mark on its underside as well as the HIRAM WALKER & SONS INC. legalese statement likely required to have been also appended to any odd thing with a 'booze brand name' on it of its era, which I'm guessing (only) is late 1960's or so.
What DID turn out to be a fun sorta-accidental surprise once I got it home and looked a little closer about what it is/might be -- turns out WALKER'S DeLuxe BOURBON was bottled at a plant in Peoria, Illinois up until its closing sometime in the (early?) 1980's, when further manufacture of the product (if any, and in whatever current form?) got moved somewhere Canadian along with other Hiram Walker products. Since I myself grew up nearby the Peoria area (ironically also starting to 'move away' in the early 80's) it suddenly made sense why that brand name seemed kinda familiar to me somehow, anyway...??? <lol>
I love the cool shape of this pitcher!
Great Pitcher!!! That reminds me I have a Schenley I'll put up soon. Not as good as yours.
Stuff
Thanks LOTS to: Vynil33rpm, Newfld, fortapache, yougottahavestuff, jscott0363, bobby725, & Brunswick for your comments and <love it>s for this little pitcher!
Outta curiosity, does anybody actually have any clue what small pitchers like this (or 'stuff's Schenley one, or the little Canadian Club one I use to hold fondue forks, etc) were actually intended to be *USED* for? As a bourbon drinker myself, I've always figured they'd be for a little icewater in case one would want to slightly dilute their 'bourbon on the rocks', but I also can't say that I've ever seen one served/used as such...? Maybe instead they would have just been meant to hold small quantities of other unrelated liquids (juice, cream, etc) for utilitarian behind-the-bar usage??
Ice water sounds right to me. Schenley was a Canadian Whiskey.
Submarine officers could only get Schenley Black Label during the Battle of Midway and nicknamed it Black Death!!! Over in Nam sometimes we could only get their 33 Beer!!! It had a Panther on the label so we called it Panther Piss!!! My favorite whiskey was Old Factory Whistle!!!! One blast and your thru for the DAY!!!
Your bourbon was top shelf!!! Schenley was under the bottom shelf!!!!
'Stuff -- actually, most of the references I've found for Walker's describe it as being decidedly 'mediocre/cheap', which kinda fits my meager recollection too...? (but I like the pitcher anyways...) <lol>
And indeed Thomas -- I was pretty sure you'd catch that Peoria reference right away! :-) ;-) :-) I (sorta) know of that old Pabst plant too, at least as much as I now currently own numerous little 'bits and pieces' of it (a handful of old industrial signs, some pressure gauges and little plumbing pieces, etc.) which were scavenged from it and given to me back in the early 80's by a buddy who actually worked on one of the wrecking crews that ultimately demolished the brewery. Cool beans!! :-) :-) :-)