Best Premium Quality Beer Flat Top Can

Best Premium Quality Beer Flat Top

This 12-ounce flat top beer can dates to the 1950s, representing a clean post-World War II package design from Chicago's Best Brewing Corporation. The can is distinguished by its crisp off-white background framed around a bold central shield, which displays the prominent "Best BEER" branding. A notable design element of this specific issue is the script lettering below the main brand name reading "Brewery Fresh" rendered in brown, paired with the "PREMIUM Quality" designation across the lower portion of the body. Manufactured during the classic era of soldered-seam steel flat tops, the can carries the brewery's Chicago manufacturing line along the side seam.

Best Beer served as a primary label for the company, positioned throughout the Midwest as an accessible everyday lager that emphasized local freshness and reliable quality. The brewery leaned heavily on slogans promoting its "Brewery Fresh" character to compete against both towering national shipping brewers and vigorous local rivals in the crowded Chicago metropolitan market. As retail grocery shelves and package stores grew increasingly competitive in the 1950s, the brand was distributed in diverse packaging formats before disappearing alongside the plant.

The origins of the Chicago brewing plant trace back to 1891, when the Best Brewing Company of Chicago was established at Fletcher and Herndon Streets on the city's North Side. The neighborhood brewer built a loyal tavern trade before national Prohibition took effect in 1920. Best survived the dry years by manufacturing near-beer, malt tonics, and commercial malt syrups. Following the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, the company resumed full brewing operations and later reorganized as the Best Brewing Corporation in 1951. Like many independent regional producers, the business struggled against national consolidation and finally closed in 1961.

For breweriana enthusiasts, mid-century Chicago cans remain an enduring specialty. Collectors appreciate this label for its balanced mid-century typography and catalog the subtle print differences across production runs, such as variations in script coloration. It stands as a classic artifact of mid-century Illinois brewing history.