Chandler Gin Stewart Distilling Co Early 1900s Bottling

A bottling of Chandler Gin made by the Stewart Distilling Co in Philadelphia. This was bottled in the early 1900s. Robert Stewart was an Irishman who emigrated to Baltimore in the middle of the 19th century. He started his distillery in 1886 in Highlandtown and then officially incorporated his business in 1894. The firm produced "Robert Stewart Rye" and contracted H.B. Kirk in New York for bottling, a firm which also bottled Old Crow Rye from W.A. Gaines & Co. Robert Stewart decided to retire and sell the company in 1897 to the Carstairs of Philadelphia. In 1898, the same year this rye whiskey was produced, a news article claims the distillery had the capacity to produce 1200-1500 gallons of whiskey per day with an expansion planned to up production to 3000 gallons per day. The Carstair Brothers ran the firm themselves from 1898 until 1908 when the firm consolidated its holdings, creating the Stewart Distilling Company and merged its historical Carstairs, Mcall & Co company into one. The distillery and firm operated until 1919. As prohibition loomed the Carstairs Mcall & Co firm chose to liquidate the site, but J.H. Carstair stepped in and purchased the distillery himself. Prohibition hampered any chance of revival however and by 1921 J.H. Carstair was out of the business. The site was sold and continued to hold liquor onsite through the early years of prohibition, even having its liquid stolen by bootleggers in 1923. The moonshiners tunnelled into the distillery from a nearby empty house and pumped the whiskey out of the barrels into containers next door. In 1924 the vice president Jacob Katz of Stewart Distillery and the manager of nearby Sherwood distillery were caught selling both barrels and cases of whiskey, actions outlawed by prohibition. Finally in 1925 the distillery was put up for sale and dismantled, being fully purchased by the Crown Oil & Wax Company in 1927. This specific bottle bears no size or strength, but one has reportedly been opened and proofed as approximately 110. We estimate this to be a 4/5th quart/750ml bottle size.

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