Antique 1930s–1940s Delicious Punch Bottle Cap 🥤 Clem Bottling Co. Malvern, Arkansas – Cork Liner NOS

Who Bottled Delicious Punch? 🥤 Antique 1930s–1940s Delicious Punch Bottle Cap

Size: 1 1/4"

This original Delicious Punch soda bottle cap was found at the old Clem Bottling Works of Malvern, Arkansas, and it's a little beauty: red lettering on gold, a dark blue ring, and in the middle a tall bottle of punch on a tray with two punch cups, all very Art Deco. Preserved as New Old Stock (NOS), never crimped onto a bottle, with its original cork liner. The cap was made by Crown Cork & Seal, the big name in crown closures, which printed its caps 72 to a sheet from glass plates.

🔍 What's on it

DELICIOUS arched across the top, PUNCH across the bottom, and "Artificial Flavor & Color" through the middle under the bottle and cups. Like every uncrimped crown, it measures 1 1/4 inches across.

🏭 The Clem family of Malvern

J.M. Clem and his son Dock started Clem Bottling Works in March 1907, making and bottling soft drinks in a little building behind their house. In May 1914 they built a real plant and warehouse on South Main Street. J.M. died in 1931, Dock's son Harold joined in 1933, and after Dock died in 1942 his widow Jewell and Harold kept it going for thirty more years.

Clem's made about a dozen flavors: Clem's Cola, R-Pep, Orange, Strawberry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Peach, Lemon-Lime, Pep-Up, Rock and Rye, Chocolate, and a Fruit Punch, and they shipped all over Arkansas, East Texas, northern Louisiana and western Mississippi. Early on, the bottles were embossed "J. M. Clem Bottling Works" and closed with wire seals; in the early 1920s they switched to metal crown caps like this one, and painted labels came in the 1950s. In 1972 the family sold the formulas and trademarks to Dr Pepper and closed up. The bottling machinery went to Mountain Valley Spring Water in the early 1990s, Harold Clem died in 2004, and since 2018 the old plant has been a dental office. Their R-Pep came back in 2011, when a small Illinois bottler bought up old Clem's bottles, trademarked the name and started making the original formula again.

🧱 Malvern, Arkansas

Malvern started as a Cairo and Fulton Railroad station in 1873, and the story goes that the hilly country reminded one railway official of Malvern Hill back home in Virginia, so that's what they named it. It incorporated in 1876 and in 1878 took the Hot Spring County seat away from Rockport by 176 votes. The local clay made it a brick town, and after fires in 1896 and 1897 downtown was rebuilt all in brick; Acme Brick bought land at nearby Perla in 1919 and shipped its first bricks in 1921, and in 1980 Malvern proclaimed itself the "Brick Capital of the World." Billy Bob Thornton went to Malvern High.

📏 Details

• 🥤 Brand: Delicious Punch
• 🏭 Found at: Clem Bottling Works, Malvern, Arkansas
• 🏢 Manufacturer: Crown Cork & Seal
• 🕰️ Era: 1930s–1940s
• 🧵 Liner: Original cork
• 📦 Condition: New Old Stock (NOS)

A bright little piece of Arkansas soda history, ideal for collectors and display.