Does anyone know what the story was on this? Back in the early 80’s, my father used to get glass bottles full of seltzer from a bottling plant or something. They would also refill the same bottles if you brought them back. This was in NJ, in the more urban area around Jersey City.
Normal soda was available in 2 liter plastic bottles by that time. Anyone know why they still sold seltzer in glass with refills? Could you not buy seltzer at the grocery store? Was it better/cheaper in a glass bottle?
There was an article about this in The American Heritage Magazine of Science and Technology many years ago. To my utter surprise, those old seltzer bottles that you always see people squirting each other with in old movies were refilled through the nozzle! The tops did not come off. The refilling machine was, indeed, in New Jersey, and I think the point of the American Heritage article was that there was only one of them left, and it was still in use for refilling selter bottles, mainly from classy NYC hotels and restauants.
The seltzer was used mainly as a mixer, as Hello Again notes, and it would stay carbonated. Besides, with its exclusive supplier, it exudes individuality and charm.
I sort of disagree with this statement. In New York metro area seltzer is consumed straight up with frequency. (My parents probably drink a couple of gallons or two a week.) The few people I knew who got delivery consumed it in their household, plain for the most part. The same company would also deliver bottled sodas (in a regular capped bottle). I was sooo jealous… we weren’t allowed to drink sugary drinks like soda when I was a kid.
MY SO (raised in the midwest) thinks it strange that I will just drink a glass of seltzer or club soda, plain. A regional thing, I guess.
Glass anything, i find, is superior to anything packaged in plastic,i.e. Coke in glass bottles, maybe ketchup, and the like.
I was watching Tiny Tim, rest his soul, on the Howard Stern show a couple of years ago, and he was ranting about (among other things) the fact that Listerine is packaged in plastic nowadays. He was once an advocate of the “new” plastic packaging when they came out in the early-mid 70s, and after dropping his second bottle of Listerine on the floor only to have it smash everywhere, he fired off a letter to Procter and Gamble asking why they didn’t make use of this new technology. They replied promptly, saying that the plastic packaging would actually decrease the strength of the product. Now here they are, oblivious to that fact. You’ve had a Coke in a glass bottle, or even a can, then had the same in a plastic container, haven’t you? The taste is remarkably different; in my opinion it’s worse. I remember the seltzer bottles; I come from upstate NY, and went to the city a little bit. They were great. It’s a shame that they are doing away with the seltzer bottles(it seems). I look forward to the day when strong glass usable for everyday disposable use may be applied to food packaging…'Course, here am i forgetting…we’ll need a HELL of a recycling program probably.
In what are sometimes referred to as “The Good Old Days”, seltzer came in refillable glass bottles with “spritzer” tops (levers that controlled the strength of the flow). Bottles came in cases of 12 and were home delivered. You would leave the used bottles at your door and new, refills, replaced them. The original “Egg Cream” drink was a portion of Fox’s U-Bet (Chocolate Syrup), a touch of milk and the proper “spritz” of real seltzer. The formula still is used today, but unless it includes real seltzer the thrill is gone.
