All original antique little Albany slip top glazed jug with Bristol white glazed bottom that is stamped
“Motto Jug, “If You Try Me Once You Will Try Me Again.”, Detrick Distilling Co. Dayton, O.” This Ohio advertising piece dates to the 1800’s.
Measurements are 4 1/2” high and 3″ diameter at the widest point, 2 1/2″ diameter base. Good original condition with no chips or cracks.
Below is some history that I was able to find for the Detrick Distilling Company.
Frank Detrick, the founder of the Detrick Distilling Company of Dayton, Ohio, clearly was interested in providing advice both about life and about drinking.
Detrick began his business about 1885 grinding wheat and corn under the name Detrick Milling Company. It was located in Tippacanoe City (now Tipp City), a town of about 6,000 a few miles north of Dayton.
With excess grain able to be fermented, it was almost a natural move to distilling and by 1897, the company was renamed the Detrick Milling and Distilling Co.
Frank the founder showed a real genius for marketing — with mottos always in the fore.
He put them on his jugs, postcards and brochures.
Detrick’s pre-Pro distillery issued a dozen different motto jugs. They are almost uniformly four 1/2 inches high and 2 1/2 inches in diameter on the base. (Which this one is that size.) The containers are heavy stoneware with Albany slip tops and Bristol white glaze bottoms. No mark identifies the pottery.
The mottos can be divided into three categories: downright philosophical, pep talks, and slogans keyed to the whiskey contents.
In his promotional literature, Detrick gave each different jug a number. By his own ordering system, they are:
1. “As I go up the hill of prosperity, may I never meet a friend.”
2. “Eat, drink and be merry”
3. “While we live, let us live”
4. “May fortune forever smile on you.”
5. “To err is human, to forgive divine”
6. “There is always more where I come from”
7. “I am always welcome wherever I go”
8. “A friend in need is a friend indeed”
9. “When you see me you will always smile”
10. “If you try me once, you will try me again”
11. “Drink, weary pilgrim, for tomorrow you die”
12. “Rye on toast (Try it -Its on the inside of our toast jug)”
