Becker's Mellow Beer Flat Top Can

Becker's Mellow Beer 11 Oz Flat Top

The Can

This flat top container showcases Becker Products Company's Becker's Mellow Beer in an 11 fluid ounce format. Produced during the post-Prohibition 1950s, the can features a metallic gold luster across its top and bottom rims, complementing an off-white background. The upper face highlights the "Contents 11 Fl. Ozs." statement alongside the Becker family crest—a red shield displaying a flying waterfowl silhouette flanked by golden ears of grain. The brewery credit line along the bottom margin designates the Becker Products Company of Ogden, Utah.

The Brand

Becker's Mellow Beer was formulated and promoted as an approachable, easy-drinking American-style lager tailored to mid-century consumer tastes. Sold across the Intermountain West alongside companion labels such as Becker's Best and Uinta Club, the Mellow line emphasized smooth drinkability. Becker's marketed its beers heavily across regional sporting events, capitalizing on local pride and the Becker family's deep connections to Western outdoor recreation and ski culture.

The Brewery

The origins of the brewery date back to 1890, when German immigrant Johann Stephan Becker and his sons, Gustav Lorenz (Gus) and Albert E. Becker, established the Becker Brewing and Malting Company in Ogden, Utah. Building a modern brick and steel plant along the Weber River, the enterprise expanded rapidly into one of the largest brewing operations between the Midwest and the Pacific Coast. When Utah enacted statewide prohibition in 1917, the firm restructured as the Becker Products Company, adapting by manufacturing soda, ice, and near-beer products like "Becco" to stay solvent. Following the repeal of national Prohibition in 1933, Becker resumed commercial brewing in Ogden. The company maintained operations for several decades before increasing competition from national mega-breweries led to its closure in the mid-1960s.

Collecting Context

Breweriana from Utah and the surrounding Rocky Mountain territory holds a dedicated following due to the region's complex regulatory history and limited number of surviving post-repeal breweries. The 11-ounce capacity makes this Becker's flat top a distinctive regional oddity among mid-century canning runs.