American Brewers Historical Collection Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Benedictine Society Brewery Can

This twelve-ounce tab top container represents a straight steel pre-production prototype developed for the American Brewers Historical Collection. The front panel showcases detailed pastoral artwork depicting monks working the monastery grounds in front of a stone brewhouse, commemorating the historic Benedictine Society Brewery established in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Framed by ornate Art Nouveau-styled borders and vintage banners, the illustration bears the signature of artist Stephen R. Kidd along with the historical date of 1867.

The American Brewers Historical Collection was introduced in the late 1970s as a tribute to nineteenth-century brewing pioneers and defunct regional brewhouses across the United States. Commissioned with fine artwork referencing archival drawings and photographs, the brand chronicled forgotten monastic, rural, and early industrial breweries. Positioned to capture the interest of the era's booming breweriana collector community, each release served as both a packaged malt beverage and an educational profile of vanished brewing landmarks.

The beer was produced by the Joseph Huber Brewing Company of Monroe, Wisconsin. Tracing its heritage to 1845, the facility was among the longest-operating regional breweries in the American Midwest. The brewery survived the dry years of Prohibition through product diversification, including ice cream and non-alcoholic malt products, before being acquired by Joseph Huber in 1947. In the decades following World War II, Huber carved out a niche as an independent regional producer, excelling in specialty contract canning and collectible label series while national brewing giants consolidated.

Within breweriana collecting, this piece is particularly compelling as a manufacturing test specimen from an influential historical series. Pre-production prototypes pressed in straight steel provide tangible evidence of the design approval and proofing process used to bring the collection to fruition, adding depth to the history of commemorative beer packaging.