Green’s Dictionary of Slang

lacking quality or style, no good.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 85/1: All being ‘square’, she flew over onto the counter and ‘grannied’ for the ‘slide’, but that was no ‘bottle’, it was ‘screwed’. [Ibid.] 121/1: To get at this [i.e. booty] was a puzzler to Tom, for he was no ‘bottle’ as a ‘cracksman’.
1934		P. Allingham Cheapjack 202: I don’t suppose the game will be much bottle for any of us.
1955		B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 193: Square George and Franny Daniels were no bottle as far as they were concerned.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 32: Wouldn’t be much bottle at the job if he couldn’t manage that.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 174: Bottle Courage, forceful character or nerve: ‘He has plenty of bottle’, or ‘He has lost his bottle’. A Variation is where something of no value, moral or material, is said to be ‘no bottle’.