Brandies in bulk: the price of booze 100 years ago

My earliest memory of visiting my father’s office was in June 1963 as a seven year old. John F Kennedy, the president of the United States of America, was in town. It was with great excitement that me and my three sisters arrived at 35 & 36, Arran Quay with our little flags to wave at the president from an upper floor window.

We waited for what seemed like an age for the presidential motorcade and then it was over in an instant. I remember the evening newspaper being delivered to our house, a few months later, bearing the headline “President Kennedy Assassinated” and enquiring as to what this meant.

My father and his brother were the fourth generation of their family to run L & E Egan, one of the oldest wholesale houses in the licenced trade in Ireland, dealing in wine, spirits and tea.

The accompanying photograph is of the front page of the L & E Egan price list dated May 5th, 1917 – 100 years ago today. The listing runs to several pages and features a dazzling array of products under headings such as “Brandies In Bulk”, “Gin and Genevas in Case” and “Fine Old Ports In Bottles”.

Another intriguing product that was available was altar wine. The price list stated that the altar wine came with a certificate of purity signed by The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Malaga (Dr Juan Munoz Herrera), no less, and that the labels on the bottles bore the Apostolic Seal.

The beautifully handwritten accounts for the firm in 1917 disclose that the company made what must have been a healthy profit at the time of £8,354.07s.02d. The balance sheet included “Horses” under the heading of assets which were stated to be valued at £195.09s, less depreciation of 10 per cent.

Business and life itself were conducted at a slower pace in my father's time. My mother often collected Dad from the office in the evening with a car full of children and she was on first-name terms with the Garda on points duty on Capel Street Bridge and we would often stop for a chat.

We would then pass the imposing building which, allegedly, I insisted on calling The Floor Cloths and proceed to Arran Quay. We waited until Dad would open the green venetian blinds and wave, to signify that he was about to get his hat and overcoat and come out to us.

In addition to running the family firm, Dad managed to combine a busy home life (there were seven of us) with a successful tennis career, representing Ireland in the Davis Cup and playing on several occasions in The Championships at Wimbledon. Gentler times.