Kansas City Becker Brothers Distillers Draped Cylinder Whiskey Bottle Scarce SCA

Description

This is a Scarce
Sun Colored Amethyst
Becker Brothers Distillers Draped Cylinder Whiskey Bottle Kansas City, MO in Near Mint condition. This awesome Midwest bottle is in incredible condition with no issues whatsoever. It is full of character bubbles and stretching and still has a piece of the cork seal paper ribbon attached to the bottle. This bottle is full of history concerning the distillery and the Becker Family. If you have question after reviewing all photos, feel free to ask questions... This is a nice one folks.
The story of the Becker family of Pine Hill begins about 1737, when Valentine Becker and his three brothers arrived to America on the ship “Betsy” from Germany. They eventually settled on a tract of land in Warwick Township northeast of downtown Lititz, surveyed and deeded to Valentine by Thomas and Richard Penn.
Flash forward to
September 18, 1817
, when a license was applied for by Valentine’s grandson Henry Becker to manufacture spirits via a 151-gallon still for a period of 30 days. The equipment which was used to create this whiskey was said to be the largest in the area. The whiskey retailed from .25 to .30 cents per gallon sold, with .18 cents per gallon going to the federal government for taxes for each month that the distillery was in operation.
The “still house” where the whiskey was manufactured was located along what is now Pine Hill Road, just across from the family homestead. When the product was ready, the whiskey was shipped in “hogsheads” (very similar to a barrel) and transported via Conestoga Wagons to a port in Delaware, eventually being sold to taverns near and far for customer consumption. Due to the amount sold at any given time, Becker’s whiskey never existed in bottle form; rather, their product was poured into “house” bottles and sold to thirsty and weary travelers by an innkeeper.
In
1865
, a gentleman from Womelsdorf, Berks County placed an order for
500 gallons at a price of .15 per gallon
. It is not clear if this enormous amount of product was for personal use, or if he owned a tavern. Either way, that must have been some party.
A patent was eventually applied for by Becker on January 23
rd
,
1834
, for advancements in the distilling apparatus. The patent detailed five new improvements in speed, heating, and economy, among others.
Unfortunately, the patent office which received the application burned down during the review process, and by the time Becker reapplied, another distiller had applied for and was granted this patent. It was a sad day for the village of Pine Hill.
Operating for a total of
56 years, the Becker Distillery was last run by Israel Becker in 1873
. After business ceased, the building that housed the still served as a tobacco barn for many years, before being torn down in the early 1980’s.
The Becker homestead, containing over 90 acres and located at
1150 Pine Hill Road
,
was passed down from one generation to the next for over 200 years
. Many will remember it as
“The Bicentennial Farm” of Pine Hill
, with its spring gushing fresh water along the side of the road. The property actually contained several springs, which no doubt came in very useful for the manufacturing of whiskey.
Although the farm sold to a new family a few short years ago, Valentine, along with other members of the Becker ancestry, are buried above the hill across from the family home, in the Becker family cemetery.