Bartenders and Alcoholics: Help identifying liqueur bottles.

[agent5]

These bottles are from the Raven Saloon in Raiders of the Lost Ark I'm guessing they’d be to period but still may be made today.
Looking for the pinkish bottle and the same bottle next to it in orange/brownish color.

 

[Lightning]

My first thought was Tanqueray Gin, but the band is inset rather than out.

 

[VonMagnum]

Whatever it is, the bottle to the left is ORANGE colored and has the same basic label, almost like Screwdriver and Cosmo mixers (did they have those in the '30s or would they just stock stuff from the '80s and hope you don't notice?). I did see a mixer that had that chrome style cap on top of the red one, but the label didn't match. The only bottle I've seen that resembles those two at all is Tanqueray, but it always has the red wax button in it. The label looks similar to Aviation Gin, but that bottle is different and it didn't come out until 2005 (ouch).

I even surfed through alcohol ads from the '30s and '80s while waiting for my microwave to be delivered. Nada. I even cropped the bottle and used an image based search plus vodka, gin, rum, brandy, liqueur and mixers.

Some slightly different photo grabs below (right one is later when Indie thinks he's shot for a moment, taken from a slightly different angle). You can almost read the label in the first one and you can see the left bottle has the exact same style label on it so it's probably a different 'flavor' of whatever it is. Maybe the 4K release when it comes out will be fully readable? The 2nd snap makes it clear that the left bottle contains an orange-like liquid compared to the red on the right and there's even more similar bottles to the right of that with the 3rd one over having the same black pentagon-like label with white lettering and metal screw caps. I think I see some Lucky Strike cigarettes sitting in front on the right. I'm not sure what that "Sp?d" pack is a bit over to the left with greenish lettering.

The bottle on the far left might be Gordon's Gin based on the label coloring (I buy it quite a bit as it's quite good for the price; I like it better than Tanqueray (made by the same company). Bombay Sapphire is slightly better than Gordons, IMO but costs almost twice as much and you can't really tell mixed with tonic water (Gin & Tonic) or sweet and sour mix and lemon juice (Tom Collins). I rarely drink gin straight so refined flavors matter little. Tanqueray, however has an herbal quality I can taste even in mixed drinks that I'm not crazy about.

 

[juanmanuelp]

It seems a vintage bottle of spanish “anís” liquor. Good luck with your seeking

 

[agent5]

Thanks for the replies. I would think the liquor would be pretty basic as it was a basic saloon - Whiskey, Gin, Rum, Vodka. Seeing as though all the other bottles we can see are American, I'd think the same for the mystery bottles above, although the Anis bottle is the closest I've yet seen.
That is a Gordons Gin bottle back there. I just ordered one and it's on the way.
I've been looking for hours now and can only find close enough bottles. I was thinking of contacting an expert in spirits to see if they can send me off in the right direction, if not tell me flat out what it is.

 

[Lightning]

These bottles are from the Raven Saloon in Raiders of the Lost Ark I'm guessing they’d be to period but still may be made today.
Looking for the pinkish bottle and the same bottle next to it in orange/brownish color.

I'm only slightly annoyed this mystery has been stuck in my head for the past 3 and a half years, but here you go.

embossed Albi Glass decanter. they are all over ebay.

 

[agent5]

Well, look at that! Amazing score. Good work. Just in time for Raiders 34th anniversary too.
Now I guess the last part of the puzzle is the the label. Made for the film perhaps? I doubt any of these bottles originally came with any sort of label on the front.

 

[Astyanax]

Picked up one of those Albi bottles myself. Thanks for the lead!

 

[Lightning]

There are 2 sizes, around 9 and around 11, both appear in the Raven bar, but the 11 incher is the more prominent.
Mine is still in the mail, so these comparison images are preliminary. You can see the matching curve of the embossing here. I think the chrome topper might be a champagne stopper. I know these existed in the early 80s, but probably not the 30s.

Now I guess the last part of the puzzle is the the label. Made for the film perhaps? I doubt any of these bottles originally came with any sort of label on the front.

Hexagonal liquor labels just don't exist, I've looked. It's weird, it's a perfectly good shape for a label. So yes, probably made for the film. I've been designing one that fits what we can see.

 

[VonMagnum]

If that's a decanter bottle, it's possible that's a red wine in the one and not a liquor in it. (There's at least two of those bottles on the shelf and the other is a different color).

 

[Lightning]

If that's a decanter bottle, it's possible that's a red wine in the one and not a liquor in it. (There's at least two of those bottles on the shelf and the other is a different color).

Oh, there are at least seven of the 11 inchers and six of the 9 inch version. Colors are red, orange, and greenish yellow. I was going for a label that would work for everything, so I picked Liqueur since that comes in multiple colors, depending on the type. The bottles don't actually make any logical sense.

 

[agent5]

I've seen the red and green but I was thinking that some may just be clear with different colored liquids inside top give them their color. They also used period labels for the other bottles behind the bar so I would think the label on these bottles would also be real, although not accurate on these particular bottles. Thoughts?
All great stuff.

 

[Lightning]

I've seen the red and green but I was thinking that some may just be clear with different colored liquids inside top give them their color.

I wasn't implying otherwise, the bottles are all the same greenish glass (you can see the green glow at the base of the red bottle). You are correct that it is the liquids inside giving the color. the peachy orange seems to be less clear than the red and yellow for some reason.

These are my main reference images. The top one is a composite, as the red bottle makes a late appearance, and we never see the right side of that arrangement. Up until then changes are minimal.

By the way, agent5 did you ever post your findings of what bottles you identified?
I can see:
Gordon's Gin
Jack Daniels
Jim Beam
Johnnie Walker Black
mystery Albi bottle

anything else? There are a couple small sort of ketchup bottle shaped ones I'm curious about.

They also used period labels for the other bottles behind the bar so I would think the label on these bottles would also be real, although not accurate on these particular bottles. Thoughts?

As I mentioned before, hexagonal labels seems to be super rare, so if it's real it's super obscure, but I'll continue to look. It almost looks like there is a black version and a white version, but the back lighting throws things off. They used so many that I was thinking it might be a fake label like Earl Hays Press makes, but, of course, Elstree wouldn't be using them. Who would they have been using for something like that?

My version was a good excuse to practice my label design skills, see the logo is a hexagon made from a camera aperture, since Slocombe was the director of photography.

 

[VonMagnum]

That bar had a pretty fancy backlight system to light the bottles up for a 1937 bar in Nepal....

 

[Jamesfett]

He'll know.

(BTW one of the funniest things you will ever see)

 

[Lightning]

here we go. now that I have it in hand, there are 3 oval panels, two have vines, the third is blank. that's the one with the bottle seam through it. label needs to be about 2.75" tall. champagne stopper fits, but isn't as secure as it would be on a wine bottle.