Bohemian Club Light Export Lager Beer Cone Top Can

Bohemian Club Light Export Lager

This twelve-ounce cone top container was produced for Bohemian Breweries, Inc. in Spokane, Washington. Issued in the mid-twentieth century, the can carries an internal revenue tax statement alongside the statutory caption "DOES NOT CONTAIN MORE THAN 4% OF ALCOHOL BY WEIGHT" printed along the lower black band. The front label is dominated by an ornate oval cartouche framed in stylized green acanthus scrollwork over a rich red backdrop, encircling the "Bohemian Club" brand name rendered in red Old English gothic lettering.

Bohemian Club originated during Prohibition, when the brewery operated under the name Inland Products Company and produced it as a non-alcoholic cereal beverage. Following the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, the label was relaunched as a full-strength light export lager. Positioned as a smooth, mild, and mellow regional lager brewed in the classic Old World tradition, Bohemian Club became the company's flagship product and was marketed heavily throughout the Inland Empire and across the Pacific Northwest.

The brewing facility's roots date to 1890, when John G. F. Hieber established a brewery in Spokane that soon became the Hieber Brewing and Malting Company. It was reorganized as the Inland Brewing & Malting Company in 1905 before transitioning to non-alcoholic drinks and malt extracts during the dry years. In 1934, the enterprise re-emerged as Bohemian Breweries, Inc. The company experienced significant post-Repeal growth, establishing a secondary facility in Boise, Idaho—collectively known as the Twin Bohemian Breweries—and acquiring Spokane's former Golden Age Breweries plant in 1948 to meet surging consumer demand. Intensifying post-war competition and market consolidation eventually led to ownership changes in the late 1950s and the brewery's ultimate closure in the early 1960s.

For breweriana enthusiasts, cans from independent Pacific Northwest operations highlight a transitional era in container manufacturing. This cone top represents an important artifact of Spokane's vibrant mid-century brewing industry and the graphic design standards of post-Repeal packaging.