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" Early 20th century Hoff's Malt Extract bottle with label.Hoff's Malt Extract - This is another commonly encountered late 19th to early 20th century mouth-blown malt extract bottle which is embossed on the shoulder with JOHANN HOFF (partially obscured by the label on this example). The pictured bottle is 7.5" tall, 2.9" in diameter, has a tooled oil finish, and was blown in a cup base mold with single shoulder air venting indicating an 1890s to early 1900s production. The Johann Hoff bottles are a variation of the "squatty" shape noted above, but may actually be the bottle that initiated the malt extract style as the Johann Hoff product was first introduced in Europe in 1847 (Fike 1987). These bottles are also very similar in shape to the early ale/porter bottles discussed previously on the page. The label notes that the product was "A dietetic and healing remedy recommended by European physicians for Complaints of the Chest and Stomach, Dyspepsia, Obstinate Coughs, Hoarseness, etc. and especially Consumption..." - in other words, the manufacturers considered the product to be a medicine or at least health enhancing. Older versions of this bottle (1880s and prior) have applied finishes and are olive green to olive amber in color and are often quite crude (empirical observations). How far back this particular bottle style goes is unknown, but to at least the 1870s in the U. S.; Fike (1987) noted it being introduced into the U. S. in 1866 although what bottle it came in is unknown. The product was imported into the U. S. by Tarrant & Co. (New York) which is noted on the label shown here. Later (1890s and after) mouth-blown examples were amber or emerald green (pictured example) in color. Machine-made examples have not been noted by the author, but could exist since the product was produced until at least 1935 (Fike 1987). Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle: base view showing an embossed "X"; close-up of the shoulder showing the embossing partly covered by the label; close-up of the neck and finish. Whether these bottles were made in Europe and imported full or were made in the U. S. and filled with the imported product is unknown, though the illustrated bottle does have the look of a U. S. made bottle." Beer & Ale Bottles
