Apache Export Beer Cone Top Can

Arizona's Historic Apache Cone Top

The Apache Export Beer cone top can represents an early packaging milestone from the Arizona Brewing Company of Phoenix, Arizona. Packaged in a 12-ounce cone top container manufactured by the Continental Can Company, this pre-World War II can features the mandatory Internal Revenue Tax Paid (IRTP) tax statement. The face of the can is defined by a circular portrait of an Apache chieftain wearing a feathered war bonnet, flanked by "Natural Lager" text and framed within Southwestern geometric chevron accents.

Introduced in June 1934, shortly after the repeal of Prohibition, Apache Beer served as Arizona Brewing Company's primary label throughout the 1930s. Marketed with the slogan "The Chief of Them All," the brand heavily embraced Southwestern heritage. The brewery promoted the label through creative advertising campaigns, including a radio program titled The Apache Travel Chief and public promotional appearances. In 1936, Apache became one of the earliest canned beers in the American West. The brand was briefly renamed Arizona Apache Beer in the early 1940s before being phased out as the brewery turned its production focus toward its flagship A-1 Pilsner.

Arizona Brewing Company was founded in 1933 by brothers Martin and Herman Fenster at 12th and Madison streets in Phoenix. As the state's lone operating commercial brewery for decades, it played a central role in the local industrial scene, where its steam whistle famously signaled shift changes for downtown workers. Despite enduring early obstacles—ranging from intense market competition to a foiled extortion bomb plot in 1934—the brewery thrived into the mid-20th century. Over subsequent decades, the facility underwent several ownership transitions under Carling, the National Brewing Company, and G. Heileman before ultimately closing in 1985.

For breweriana enthusiasts, the Apache Export Beer cone top is an iconic example of early Western canned beer. Its striking graphic illustration and deep historical connection to Arizona's brewing past make it a premier representative of pre-war regional cone top design.