Bavarian's Select Beer 12 Oz Zip Top Can

Bavarian's Select Beer Zip Top Can

This 12-ounce straight steel can held Bavarian's Select Beer and was produced out of Evansville, Indiana. Dating to the mid-1960s self-opening era, the can is distinguished by having its mandatory liquid contents statement positioned on the back. The front face features a large metallic gold oval framed by the brand name, containing "MADE IN U.S.A." arched across the top edge. Inside the oval, three colorful triangular pennants converge, displaying a blue field with an hourglass, a red field with a crown, and a green field featuring a hand holding a grain stalk. In collector literature, standard tab top versions from this production run are typically pictured, whereas this zip top execution remained undocumented in reference listings.

Originally marketed as Bavarian's Old Style Beer, the brand was re-christened Bavarian's Select Beer in 1957 to give the product a more contemporary, upscale appeal. Advertising emphasized pure brewing traditions, patient cellaring, and select agricultural ingredients—qualities symbolically captured on the label by the hourglass for time, the crown for royal quality, and the hand clutching barley. As regional consolidation accelerated throughout the 1960s, the brand moved through multiple corporate hands, eventually serving as a regional value label before fading from major markets.

Although the Bavarian brand originated in Covington, Kentucky—established in the nineteenth century and heavily expanded by brewer William Riedlin—its journey led to Evansville through waves of industry mergers. After navigating Prohibition through near-beer production, the Covington brewery operated until 1959, when it was acquired by International Breweries, Inc. (IBI). Following the dissolution of IBI in the mid-1960s, the brand came under the umbrella of Associated Brewing Company. Associated transferred brewing operations for the label to several facilities, including the Sterling brewery complex in Evansville, which packaged the beer under the Bavarian name until Associated was acquired by G. Heileman in 1972.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can represents an engaging artifact from the transitional zip-top period. Cans bearing alternate production cities and opening styles provide collectors with tangible evidence of how historic regional recipes were kept alive across decentralized plant networks during the height of American brewery consolidation.