Bavarian Type Beer Cone Top Can

Mount Carbon Bavarian Type Cone Top

This twelve-ounce high-profile cone top container represents the World War II and immediate postwar era of Pennsylvania brewing. Marked with the federal Internal Revenue Tax Paid (IRTP) statement, the can dates between 1941 and 1950. Its graphic presentation centers on an ornate cream cartouche flanked by grain stalks and hop cones, with a crimson circular medallion framing a smiling, silver-haired gentleman raising a glass mug of beer above prominent Germanic blackletter typography. Along the lower red rim, the mandatory text records packaging by the Mount Carbon Brewery in Pottsville.

Introduced in 1941, Bavarian Type Beer was positioned as the brewery's flagship offering, crafted to appeal to the strong German-American heritage and thirsty workforce of Schuylkill County's anthracite coal region. Promoted under the brewery's celebrated slogan, "A Mellow Brew from the Mountains," the brand became a staple throughout central and eastern Pennsylvania. The distinctive patron illustration proved enduring, carrying through subsequent label revisions in the decades that followed. When Mount Carbon closed in the late 1970s, crosstown competitor D.G. Yuengling & Son acquired the brand name and recipes, continuing production of the Bavarian label well into the 1990s.

Mount Carbon Brewery traced its roots back to 1845, when George Lauer founded a brewing establishment in Pottsville. In the 1880s, brewer Lorenz Schmidt constructed a modern facility along South Centre Street in Mount Carbon. The facility operated under various names—including the Mellet & Nichter Brewing Company—until national Prohibition brought brewing to a halt in 1920. Reopening following the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the operation reorganized as the Mount Carbon Brewery in 1935. The plant maintained a robust regional following for decades, but post-war brewery consolidation and declining local demand eventually took their toll, leading to the brewery's closure in 1976.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can is a prized example of Pennsylvania anthracite brewing history. High-profile cone tops from regional independent breweries reflect an era when local loyalty defined beer distribution, making this piece an engaging artifact of mid-twentieth-century industrial culture.