The Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, “an Act To allow the bottling of distilled spirits in bond,” was a set of regulations defined by the 54th Congress of the United States to allow for the bottling of distilled spirits in “bond.” Bottling a bottle in bond allowed a distillery to provide proof to a customer that the contents of a bottle were unadulterated and held to certain standards required to obtain a bonded stamp. The bonded stamp was placed over the cap of the bottle to prevent any post bottling tampering and acted as proof that the spirit was held to the bonding standards. To quote Judge Victor Baynard Woolley, US Third Circuit Appeals Court 1925, “Bottling in Bond Act protect the Government in the collection of revenues and give purchasers a guaranty of the purity, proof and excellence of the bottled spirits.”
The act was largely a reaction to the unregulated spirits industry of the late 19th century. Several non-distilling producers were purchasing spirts (whiskey) and reselling with false age statements, added color, or other additives. One should note that this is a few years before the publishing of Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle which exposed much of the corruption within the Meatpacking industry and ultimately lead to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. The act is an early response to a growing trend of public concern for food and alcohol purity, although we wonder how much big bourbon business had its hand in the passage of these laws in order to deter competition. Whether it was a response to the public’s purity concerns or an anti-competitive measure, it paved the way for the tradition of bourbon purity.
Specifically the act allowed for Bottling in Bond if the following conditions were met:
If all of the above conditions were met, every filled bottle would have an adhesive engraved strip affixed that passed over the mouth of the bottle (to prevent post bottle tampering). The bonded bottles could then be placed into cases in multiple of six, with each case containing two to five gallons of whiskey. The cases were required to be immediately removed from the distillery with stamps attached denoted the number of gallons contained within. The case stamps were taxed at ten cents each.
Each case was to contain a “Government” side, which had the following attributes “burned” onto it:
The six attributes above were also placed on the adhesive strip affixed over each bottle. information was also
No trade marks were allowed to be placed on the bottle unless the name of the actual bona fide distiller was also placed “conspicuously” on the bottle.
Finally, should a person have the audacity to reuse the bonding stamps, he or she “shall for each such offense be fined not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not more than two years, in the discretion of the court, and such spirits shall be forfeited to the United States.” Any person found to be involved with the counterfeiting of the bonding stamps faced similar punishment. He or she “shall on conviction be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and by imprisonment at hard labor not exceeding five years.”
The act was formally signed into law on March 3, 1897. Check out the original text below from the archives at the Library of Congress!
