I remember as a child going to Foremost with my family and picking out different flavors of quart bottles of soda. The bottles were placed in a wooden crate. I beleve the brand may have been Montreal. I seem to rember other brands like Monarch and Clover Club. There were many small brands that serviced the local taverns. Feel free to identify any brands you remember or details of the companies.

Back in the late '50's we used to go to Burkhardt Bottlers and pick up a case of quarts once in a while. We lived near Archer & Oak Park at the time and it seems like the building we went to was just NW of Archer & Canal. You would pick assorted flavors and put them in a wooden case yourself. Now-a-days businesses are afraid if you enter a parking lot, let alone the warehouse.
Another was Cadillac Soda. Priced at .25 a quart it was pretty good, but what made it even better was the .15 cents we used to get back for the deposit. Cadillac had a clear look to it, like Green River soda, and came in maybe six flavors, bottled in a plain bottle. No design was molded on the bottle, just smooth glass with a simple paper label. Cadillac was early '60's, had to be local, and didn't seem to last too long, did they price themselves too cheaply?
Then there is Filberts Root Beer. Still in business they now have a multitude of flavors in addition to the original R/B. Never had the flavors but the R/B is excellent. They are at 3430 S. Ashland Ave. I'd bet they are still family owned and operated.

I can't remember the name of the place but there was an independent bottler located on Archer Ave a few blocks east of Cicero Ave. I believe it was close to the RR tracks. This was back in the 60s. It was on the north side of the street as I recall. My Dad used to go there occasionally and I *think* they carried Green River and a few other local brands of soda.

I just Google mapped the area and did not see the building.

Dave, I'm almost positive the name was Clover Club, possibly Clover Club Liquors. I do not know if it was connected to the soda brand in any way. The building would be set back from Archer, on the NW corner at Knox, with parking to the front. Actually it was the first building just across the E-W alley, I remember walking across the alley to get back to my car.

That's it - Clover Club.

Thanks b.a.hoarder



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2010 10:19AM by daveg.

I second that, It was definitely Clover Club. I believe the building was torn down and turned into one of those self car wash places.

Looks like the Clover Club moved north.

http://www.glassbottlesoda.org/bottlers/cloverclub.shtml

happened across Schoenhofen Brewing when visiting in August 2011
Want to post photo but don't see a way to do so

A.A. Bottling Co.made Hydrox soda for Certified Grocers,it was at 5251 S.Millard. They also made Squirt,Dr.Pepper,& Green River in the 60's.Half the building collapsed around 1966? My Father worked there for over 20 years. It closed in 1983

Don't forget about Old Dutch. Not sure where they were located, but I know it was on the south side.

Does anyone remember the name of a ginger ale with a picture of a penny on the label? It was sold in quart bottles. I want to say it was called Old Abe or something close to that. Was discussing this with someone who thinks Im nuts, but I remember this clearly except the name. Pretty sure it was made by a local bottler.

You're not nuts murphman, I remember Old Abe well. We lived next door to Egan's Tavern on the corner of Peterson and Paulina. My dad used to run next door to get quarts of Old Abe for special occasions (we didn't get pop on a regular basis in our home). On our regular bottle-hunting rounds, finding an Old Abe bottle meant a 5 cent deposit return rather than the two cents that regular sized bottles garnered. (Quart sized beer bottles paid a nickle also). Don't know if it was a local bottler, but they seem to have disappeared altogether by the end of the 1960's - and yes, there was a picture of a penny on the label.

There was an independent Bohemian bottler in Pilsen named Alois Vana. He was located at 1938-37 S. Carpenter for decades, the building no longer stands. I believe his son moved to Berwyn because there's a park rec center down the block from me with a plaque by the front door dedicated in 1994 with the name of Alois Vana on it.

View of where the building was: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1835+s+carpenter&hl=en&ll=41.856904,-87.653174&spn=0.000016,0.016469&sll=41.856871,-87.656395&sspn=0.007671,0.016469&hnear=1835+S+Carpenter+St,+Chicago,+Cook,+Illinois+60608&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.857025,-87.653178&panoid=YYmFJQQEOpZg7TOdd3qgOg&cbp=12,125.71,,0,5.98

Here are some ads and memorabilia from my collection:

The first one is from the 1915 Chicago Bohemian directory:



The second one is from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair Czechoslovak book:



Celluloid Brush:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2013 01:43AM by Berwyn Frank.

Thanks Mornac. You're sure less expensive than a therapist. But I recall Old Abe into the early seventies. Maybe 73 or so. Still would like to know the company that produced it. Lassers?

Old Abe Root Beer by Lincoln Bottling Company from Chicago, IL.

Is this it?

http://www.root-beer.org/modules.php?name=Brands&rbop=Brand&bid=1963

Old Dutch was bottled by Triangle Bottling Company at 3830 S. Michigan Ave. Mason's Root beer was another Chicago based soda. Green Mill Beverage Co.1307 South Pulaski. Polonia Soda Bottlers, 1912 W. Hubbard, Chicago, Illinois.