Collecting Breweriana - especially Guinness!

Judgement Day wrote: »

Ginger beer is one of my favourite non-alcoholic drinks (I blame the Enid Blyton's Famous Five books !) and I collect old and new bottles and cans associated with it. Stoneware ginger beer bottles are my favourites and three of my collection are pictured here together with a nice Beamish bottle.
As far back as the 1830's ginger beer was stored in stoneware bottles, hand thrown by potters to meet the individual demands of their customers. Most bore little more than the bottlers name, perhaps a town and sometimes a date. However, from the 1880's, with growing industrialisation, the modern grey glaze bottles with stamped logos began to appear. These bottles were still hand thrown but made to much more precise standards and came with all sorts of weird and wonderful designs. These included steam locomotives, ships, bears, thistles - basically anything to make them stand out from the rest when displayed.
Stoneware bottles faded in popularity in the 1920's, as the public became more health conscious and questioned the sediment at the bottom of the bottles which in turn led to a demand for ginger beer to be sold in glassware. The advances in refrigeration techniques meant that the advantages of stoneware for keeping products cool also became redundant.
Irish stoneware bottles are much sought after today and can be expensive - regardless of condition - and the proliferation of overseas Irish theme pubs can be blamed for this. Car boot sales, general auctions and eBay are the best sources but be prepared to pay at least €25/30 for even the simplest bottle.