Antique Bottles

This is a vintage 1/8 ounce Tabasco sauce bottle dating to some time around the 1990s or 2000s. It was manufactured by the McIlhenny Company to be used in MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat). 

While Tabasco was initially introduced to the world by Edmund McIlhenny in 1868, soldiers in the US military wouldn't have the sauce included in their MREs until 1990 during the Gulf War. The hot sauce would come in a small 1/8-ounce bottle like the one in the museum's collection. These tiny bottles of Tabasco were a staple of the notoriously bland meal kit until 2012 when sauce packets replaced the 1/8-ounce bottles.

This particular bottle was never opened and thus still contains the original Tabasco hot sauce. On the back of the bottle, it reads:

"1/8 OZ.

"TABASCO" BRAND PEPPER SAUCE

PACKED FOR MRE BY TRANS-PACKERS SERVICES CORP. BKLYN, NY 11222"

References:

• Kearney, Caitlin. “Tabasco and the War against Bland Military Meals.” National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution, April 30, 2015. https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/tabasco-and-war-against-bland-military-meals.