$1000 Natural Process Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Gettelman $1000 Natural Process Beer

This straight steel, 12-ounce tab top can represents a transitional chapter in Milwaukee brewing history following the acquisition of the A. Gettelman Brewing Company by the Miller Brewing Company. Dating to the tab top era of the 1960s, the design retains classic branding elements, including the upper declaration "Milwaukee's 100% Pure Malt and Hops Beer" and mandatory brewery text identifying the manufacturer as the Gettelman Division. The bottom of the can features a row of heraldic shield panels displaying foaming pilsner glassware, the stylized Gettelman "G" crest, and pine tree motifs.

The "$1000 Beer" name originated in 1891 when Adam Gettelman launched an audacious promotional challenge. The company offered a $1,000 cash guarantee to any chemist or consumer who could prove the beer contained adjuncts or anything other than pure barley malt, hops, and water. This purity claim served as the foundation for the brand's identity and advertising campaigns for decades, often paired with the well-known catchphrase "Get-Get-Gettelman". Following the corporate buyout, Miller continued marketing the $1000 Natural Process brand into the tab top era before eventually retiring the label in the 1970s.

Founded in 1856 by George Schweickhart in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley, the facility came under the full ownership of Adam Gettelman in 1876. Operating alongside the city's brewing giants—Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller—Gettelman earned a reputation for resilience and innovation, notably developing modern steel beer kegs in 1933. The company weathered Prohibition by manufacturing near beer and diversifying into industrial snowplow production. After surviving the mid-century market pressures and a prolonged 1953 labor strike, the family-run brewery was acquired by neighboring Miller in 1961.

For breweriana collectors, this can provides a vivid snapshot of regional mid-century packaging and the era of post-war brewery consolidation. It stands as a prized artifact linking one of Milwaukee's historic nineteenth-century names with modern canning history.