Burkhardt's Export Beer Cone Top Can

Burkhardt's Export Cone Top

Manufactured in the late 1940s, this twelve-ounce high-profile cone top container represents the post-World War II packaging era for the Burkhardt Brewing Company of Akron, Ohio. The design features a bold diagonal division between a bright yellow upper half and a deep red lower section. Notable text elements include the heritage statement "Since 1880" placed prominently above the blue script brand lettering, alongside the subtitle "Master Blended Beer." The can also displays the circular seal of the Brewing Industry Foundation on the right face, a trade organization insignia standard on American beer containers during the 1940s.

Burkhardt's Export was positioned as the brewery's primary flagship lager, marketed to working-class and regional consumers throughout northeastern Ohio. Promoted with the "Master Blended" descriptor, advertising emphasized consistency, traditional German brewing methods, and local pride. The Export brand served as a staple tavern and retail beverage across the region until industry changes altered the company's trajectory in the mid-1950s.

The brewery traced its origins to Akron's historic Wolf Ledge Brewery, acquired in the late nineteenth century by Wilhelm and Margaretha Burkhardt. After Wilhelm's early death in 1882, Margaretha took charge of the operation, becoming one of the earliest and most notable female brewery executives in the United States. Under her leadership, the business modernized and expanded into a major regional producer. The company navigated the thirteen years of Prohibition by manufacturing near-beer, soda, and commercial ice. Following Repeal in 1933, the plant reopened under The Burkhardt Brewing Company name. However, mounting post-war competition from large national shipping breweries led to declining sales, culminating in the sale of the operation to Cincinnati-based Burger Brewing Company in 1956.

Among breweriana enthusiasts, this can is a prized example of Ohio brewing history. High-profile cone tops from regional independent breweries capture a key transitional chapter in mid-twentieth-century industrial design and canning technology, making Burkhardt cans enduring fixtures in vintage breweriana collections.