There is a very cool scan of the Berry Bros. & Rudd wine merchant list from 1909 over at Jamie Goode's Wine Blog aka the Wineanorak and I was inspired to scan an excellent wine list I have from my family. My great-great uncle Walter was a hotelier back in the 1860s and traveled a lot to other hotels as well. This wine list was dated July 2nd 1861 was from the St. Louis Hotel and the prices are just mind-blowing. I urge you to click on the scan to really appreciate it.
As was the custom of the time, Madieras and Sherries were really the most revered and demanded the most detailed descriptions.
Please don't use any part of this scan without my permission. This has been in my family for almost 150 years.
Checking two online inflation calculators, $1 is about $23 today
$2 is about $46 (for Ch. Margaux)
$2.50 is about $57
$3 is about $69 (for Cliquot)
Not as cheap as you thought, eh?
Thank's for uploading such a Readable image, too.
Posted by: Jack Everitt | November 21, 2008 at 09:54 PM
Great idea! I know at the time, you could buy dinner for a family of 4 for well under a dollar in a good restaurant, so these prices are a good indication on how fancy the hotel was. - CD
Posted by: The Corkdork | November 21, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!
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Dissertation
Posted by: dissertation | December 11, 2008 at 12:50 AM
Wow! Of course, we can only hope that Crab Cider is made from crab apples and not seafood...
Posted by: Gretchen | December 26, 2008 at 04:27 PM
Thanks for the note, Gretchen. I had a peek at your site - very cool. Isn't it also interesting that the Cognacs then are still top Cognacs now...Hine and Otard. (I've never tasted Otard, though...) - John
Posted by: The Corkdork | December 26, 2008 at 04:49 PM
A menu this old is in the public domain. Also, there is no creative input in a scan intended to accurately portray a 2D work like this, so there is no new Copyright. In other words, you don't have any exclusive rights to the image of this menu. If people want to ignore your request not to use this scan they are free to do so and you have no legal recourse.
Posted by: lawdork | December 28, 2008 at 07:00 AM
Wow - that is amazing. I wish my history course at university had included a wine module. 1861??? I think I was still stuck on Palmerston at that point...
Posted by: Dan | December 29, 2008 at 01:14 AM
Wow - that is amazing. I wish my history course at university had included a wine module. 1861??? I think I was still stuck on Palmerston at that point...
Posted by: cheap eve isk | June 29, 2009 at 08:26 PM