October 24 2017

Bottle collectors in the last fortnight have been offering their Deniliquin bottles for sale.

Bottles from Riverine Brewery Co., Ernstsen Brewery, Collins & Son, Tru-Frute and Deniston Dairy have been on offer in recent weeks.

One bottle from Deniston Dairy has an asking price of $250 which is streets ahead of the next best offerings.

There are currently two different kinds of Tru-Frute bottles and one each from Collins & Son and Riverine Brewery Co.

Our report is on the bottle from the Ernststen Brewery.

The Bottle

The bottle from Ernstsen Brewery is the second bottle released in the last couple of weeks, the previous bottle offered was a Torpedo Bottle that fetched a handsome price of $80 before P&H.

The next bottle is a standard bottle, one of the tallest that have been on offer, is green and in decent condition.

Perhaps the coolest thing about it was that the stopper was still inside the bottle and was in reasonable condition.

(Bottle surrounded by two Riverine Brewery Co. bottles)

So who is E Ernstsen?

E. Ernstsen is Ernest Ernstsen, a brewer who lived in Deniliquin for 32 years and was known in mining circles around Victoria.

The earliest recordings of him on Trove mention him in 1889 as being admitted to the Ratepayers Association and in 1896 he was robbed by a pickpocket,

He is listed in 1897, 1901 and 1904 as holding a Spirits Merchants License in Harfleur Street.

Ernest also had Cattle and/or Horses in 1898 as he is listed in the sections on Cattle and Horse branding.

He also owned the Bridge Hotel (Central Hotel) and in 1897 advertised Pyke’s Hotel to be let.

In 1902, he seeked permission to put a box drain across the footpath at the Bridge Hotel and his request was granted subject to inspection.

Ernest Ernstsen died at the age of 85 in Deniliquin and was laid to rest in Dunolly.

The Brewery

Regarded as a ‘Brewery and Cordial Factory’ it was also known as Ernstsen’s Brewery and The Brewery.

The Brewery was located somewhere on Crispe Street as a 1898 report reported a fire destroyed a house near the brewery and in 1914 a water pipe was requested to be removed between the ‘property of the late E. Ernstsen’ and Mr Lloyd.

The factory was recorded as being substantially made of brick and had all the sufficient plants and outhouses needed for business, it was sold by MacKenzie Brothers on December 3 1908.

The fate of the factory is unknown to us but we will update readers as more information comes to hand.