Alpen Glen Beer Flat Top Can

Alpen Glen Flat Top by Burgermeister

The 1970 Alpen Glen Beer flat top can represents a late-era steel container produced by the Burgermeister Brewing Corporation in San Francisco, California. By 1970, pull-tab ends had become standard across the brewing industry, making traditional flat top cans from this period particularly notable to packaging historians. The front face highlights an illustrative alpine landscape featuring a mountain chalet beside a stream and pine forest, with three figures dressed in traditional Bavarian attire raising steins in a toast. The brand name is rendered in stylized blackletter script, accompanied by the mandatory text and a 1970 copyright date printed vertically along the side seam.

Alpen Glen was marketed as a regional secondary brand designed to complement the brewery's primary product lines. Breweries of this era frequently used alpine imagery and rustic mountain themes to evoke old-world brewing tradition and crisp refreshment. Proprietary and secondary labels such as Alpen Glen allowed the San Francisco plant to supply varied retail tiers and broaden its market reach across Northern California and neighboring Western territories.

The brewery behind the label originated in the late nineteenth century as the Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco before emerging after Prohibition as the San Francisco Brewing Corporation. Propelled by the popularity of its flagship Burgermeister Beer and the widely recognized "Burgie" advertising mascot, the operation expanded into one of the city's largest industrial breweries. In 1956, the company adopted the Burgermeister Brewing Corporation moniker. The 1960s and 1970s brought rapid corporate changes; the 10th Street facility was acquired by the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company, transitioned through Meister Brau ownership around 1970, and was later operated by Falstaff before shuttering permanently in 1978.

Among breweriana enthusiasts, the Alpen Glen flat top is appreciated as an attractive example of late flat top manufacturing and West Coast brewing heritage. Its rich narrative illustration and connection to San Francisco's shifting brewing landscape make it a popular addition to regional beer can collections.