Dr. Joseph Walker devised a fermented vinegar bitter In San Francisco in 1849. A San Francisco druggist marketed the bitter interntionally. The advertisements for this bitter clearly state that it is a natural no alcohol medicine...however he used brandy as a preservative. It was bottled in an array of different colored bottles. Dr. Walker claimed to have Indians gathering the herbs for his bitter. Eventually Walker moved to NY. He was struck and killed by a locomotive and killed around 1877. His estate was valued at several million dollars