Renz’s Blackberry Brandy

Renz’s Blackberry Brandy

John Renz, San Francisco, Califoirnia

Yellow with Olive Tone Slugplate Fifth

Provenance: Ken Schwartz Collection

The slugplate applied top Renz’s Blackberry Brandy bottles can be found in various shades of amber, greenish amber, and yellow with an olive tone glass. Bitters collectors will recognize the Renz name as there is a Dr. Renz’s Herb Bitters which is represented in the Bitters Gallery.

John Renz started his paints, oils, and glass business in 1863 in Sacramento, California. He began marketing his father’s Dr. Renz’s Herb Bitters which was first introduced to the California public on August 31st, 1867. By 1871, he had moved to San Francisco addressing at 219 & 221 Sacramento Street as a Wholesale Dealer in Fine Wines and Liquors. We do not hear much of Dr. C. M. Renz after that.

John Renz was also selling Bonanza Bourbon Whisky (bottle example pictured above) from the Bonanza Distillery in Kentucky and Rock & Rye. All of his brands were for “Family and Medicinal” use which, of course, was a marketing ploy to circumvent the Temperance Movement.

John Renz would focus on his bitters product and market his Renz’s Blackberry Brandy from 1875 to 1880 or so. The bottles were probably made by the San Francisco and the Pacific Glass Works glass factories as they had merged in August of 1875.

John Renz was born around 1834 in Germany. His wife was named Wilhelmina who he married in 1870. They had four sons and a daughter, John, Mary, William, Fred, and Edward. John Renz advertised a saloon for sale in 1892 which was successfully run for 15 years. He died in March 1897.

The bottles are fairly rare. John L. Thomas reported that one example was dug across the street from the old post office in Copperopolis, California. Pieces and whole examples have been dug near the old mining town of Cerro Gordo, California and seven broken examples were found in Belleville, Nevada.

Support: Reference to Whiskey Bottles of the Old West by John L. Thomas, 2002

Support: Reference to Renz’s Bitters…Unraveling the three variants by Warren Friedrich

Support: Reference to A Brief History of Dr. Renz’s Herb Bitters by Rick Simi

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