Maker Unknown Austral Bottle South America

I purchased this unique handled jug from Dick & Sherry Betker in September of 2016. They bought it from Allan & Karen Rath of Canada during a Woodsland Convention in Ohio in 2008.

It has the word "Austral" imprinted on the front of it with rays of a rising sun coming up from behind the letters. The letter T looks almost like an Olympic torch with the sun effect as the flames.

The interior of the letters in the word "Astral" are sunken into the bottle with the edges or outlines of the letters standing out above  the surface. I have not ever seen this type of lettering on any bottle before.

The geometric Indian/Aztec/Inca type designs going around the bottle. are very attractive.

It measures 7 1/2" high and 5" in diameter. The top opening has a slight pouring spout with a common cork plugging it. Except for an applied bluish handle, the whole bottle has been iridized, including the base. The marigold iridescence is missing on the polished ground pontil.

Also, the iridescence is missing around the circumference of the base from extreme wear. This utilitarian jug was certainly well cared for and used and refilled many, many times.

I asked my friend, Claudio Deveikis from Brazil, to ask his bottle collector friend in Argentina, if he had any information about this Austral bottle. They let me know it was most likely used for beer, and not for water or whiskey as I originally thought. They told me Austral is a beer, "cerveza" in Spanish, which was produced in South America.

The last few photos show the original brewery in Chilie, founded in 1896. Also, I have included some modern day labels and Austral Cerveza bottles. More information can be found here about the origin of Austral Beer.

Now, maybe the beer was made in Chile but the bottle was probably produced elsewhere, but by whom? That is the mystery I'm after! What glassmaker and when is yet to be determined. This brewery of today has a museum. It will be fun to get in touch with them and ask about my jug.

I thank Dick & Sherry Betker for thinking of me and for the great photos.

The Christina Katsikas Collection

More history on this brewery in Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile by Karina Jozami.

The history of beer in Chile began in this inhospitable region. In the late 1800s, Punta Arenas was a very small village with a promising future, where the families that would transform the city into a commercial pole were already established.

In 1896, José Fischer, a German brewmaster arrived in Patagonia and settled down there with the idea of making this beverage based on malted barley, for the colonists. Thus, the southernmost beer in the world was created, and Fischer gave it the name of Patagona. As it had an excellent quality, it soon became popular all round the region.

By 1916, Fisher's undertaking was already offering 6 varieties of beer and, in 1961, it was a very interesting business for the Chadwick family, who purchased it from the Fishers to merge it with their company, Malterías Unidas. In the late ’90s, Malterías became a partner to trade and distribute its trademark Austral all through the country.

The legendary Patagona beer today is known as Austral, with its green label or can. Its name was changed but not its location, as the brewery still remains in the same site where it was founded 110 years ago. In addition to the brewery, a beer museum was opened in the same venue.

Touring around the venue, visitors may follow the process of making this beverage step by step, from the stage of selection of the malted barley to bottling, as well as learn some of the secrets of this special southern beer.

In 2006, Austral beer made a great commercial bet and began to produce a premium quality line of beer, which rescues the flavor of homebrewed beer, as personal as the region where it is made.