Australian Hop Bitters

Australian Hop Bitters

The Australian hop bitters bottles are a real mystery bag, No one is entirely sure where these bottles were made or who used some of them. Most of the early colored examples that have been found here in Aussie seem to have surfaced in the NSW/QLD areas, while VIC seemed to have more Aqua examples.

To have produced the wide variety of colors these bottles can be found in, it is thought that they were made from recycled glass. These bottles were thought to have been made at the Ross glass works, But this popular theory has not yet been proven, They could easy have been made in some small outback glassworks, Hence the same mould markings from having only one mould onsite, and the use of recycled glass. On some of the bitters bottles repair marks to the mould can be seen.

A black/green St Louis and a Cobalt Boston have been compared and have a distorted/slumped non square mould shape, Only recently an early mould NYHB has been found to have the same distorted mould thing happening as well, This confirms that the flag bitters were made at the same glass work, whoever this glassworks may have been, is still a mystery.

Fragments of Australian bitters showing the range of colors they can be found in

It is thought that Hop Bitters were mainly used around the late 1870's-1900 period by the American Cobb & Co coach drivers who were at the time employed by Local coach firms, as these American coach drivers had extensive knowledge on how to control a herd of galloping horses towing a wagon through harsh terrain, they also liked there drink at the end of a long trek to be flavored with the best Boston hop bitters.

Dr. Soule Bitters were made in the U.S., as were the early Aussie Warner's bottles. I think that the English Dr.Soule's (note: they have an "S" on the end, the Aussie examples don't have the "S') were made in Europe (possibly Sweden or Denmark). I think that the other Aussie Bitters were made here. Certainly not made in America. American glass making was much more advanced than the crude early mould NY, Boston, St Louis, Milwaukee, etc. - the American bottles of the 1870-90's had finer embossing & were much lighter. The Warner's & Dr.Soule don't match the other American glass. Why? I wonder if they were made at an obscure glass works, possibly on the west coast of America? Both Warner's & Soule's really were American companies. I'm almost certain that the others weren't, that's another reason why I believe that the Australian hop bitters bottles were made here in Australia.

A list of Australian Hop Bitters

(Not Complete)

Pick up the bottle to find out more about it.