Buckhorn Special Lager Beer Flat Top Can

Buckhorn 11 oz Aluminum Flat Top

This flat top container represents an intriguing phase of mid-twentieth-century beer packaging, produced in an 11 fluid ounce capacity that was especially prevalent along the West Coast. Manufactured from aluminum, the can is distinguished by its seamless, extruded construction with no top crimp, reflecting early transitions away from traditional three-piece soldered steel containers. The striking red face is anchored by a stylized white-and-black stag medallion flanked by subtle foliage sprigs, underscored by a bold banner carrying the brand name and "Special Lager Beer" scripted across the upper shoulder.

Theo. Hamm introduced the Buckhorn label as a value-priced, secondary brand designed to compete in regional markets where budget lagers held significant volume. Sporting its distinctive deer head emblem, Buckhorn was positioned as a crisp, straightforward American lager. Over time, as corporate ownership shifted through acquisitions in the 1970s and 1980s, the Buckhorn name transitioned to other brewing operations—including Olympia and later Pabst—before eventually disappearing from regular commercial distribution.

The Theodore Hamm Brewing Company was originally established in 1865 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Following decades of success and post-Prohibition growth in the Midwest, Hamm embarked on an ambitious national expansion in the 1950s. A pivotal step occurred in 1954 when the company purchased the historic Rainier brewing facility on Bryant Street in San Francisco, establishing a major manufacturing presence in California. The San Francisco branch supplied Hamm's and its companion labels to distributors throughout the Pacific region until competitive pressures and brewery consolidation led to the plant's closure in the 1970s.

For breweriana collectors, this can holds special appeal due to its combination of the regional 11-ounce West Coast volume and early all-aluminum flat top engineering. Cans hailing from Hamm’s San Francisco outpost document a transformative era when major regional brewers experimented heavily with lightweight alloys and modern can designs to capture California's booming postwar market.