Bear sighting on the Big Island!

As many of you know, I had relatives scattered throughout the Hawaiian Island chain, specifically on Oahu, Maui, and the "big island" of Hawaii, and spent a lot of time there over the years

I've acquired numerous higher end glop and tool top whiskies from diggers throughout the islands. These include, W. C. Peacock's, MacFarlane's, Spruance Stanley's, Cutters, Rothenberg Chickens, and Bears of both the Fenkhausen and Braunschweiger varieties. 

Imagine my surprise when I received an email from the great grand daughter of non-other than Herman Braunschweiger! I thought it would be of interest, and so am posting it, along with the photos I received.

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Aloha. I've read and enjoyed your blog posts on Herman Braunschweiger-- not because I collect whiskey bottles, but because I am Herman's great grand-daughter. Herman's elder daughter, Elise, was my grandmother; Elise's fifth and youngest child, Robert Bachrach, was my father. Elise was a mystery in your surprisingly thorough summary of Herman's life, but your research helped me track down and fill in many gaps in my knowledge of the family. So, thank-you!

Although I originally read the Braunschweiger blogs a couple of years ago, I was motivated to write now by a strange coincidence that occurred yesterday. I was born in California, lived much of my life in Portland, but retired about 10 years ago to the Big Island of Hawaii. Yesterday, while hiking with my son and husband in the ohia forests in the "saddle" between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, I stepped off the trail to answer the call of nature. About 20 feet off the trail I noticed a discarded bottle and thought "maybe that's one of the Braunschweiger's". Picking it up, I wasn't sure, since I couldn't remember the various partnerships and other iterations described in your blog. But I refreshed my memory, and discovered that the bottle is a clear-glass version of the "Wm. H. Spears / Old Pioneer Whiskey / Fenkhausen & Co.  / Sole Agents, S.F." bottle that is pictured in your 2/25/12 blog post.

I  wanted to share this crazy coincidence with someone, so thought I'd share it with the person who helped me learn a bit of my family history. I've included photos of the bottle, below, both before and after cleaning.

With aloha,