Class Pilsner Beer Flat Top Can

Class Pilsner Flat Top Overview

The Class Pilsner Beer flat top can is one of the most sought-after rarities from the early canning era in Pennsylvania breweriana. Manufactured by the American Can Company, this twelve-ounce container represents the brief post-Prohibition packaging history of the Class & Nachod Brewing Company, which operated out of its historic multi-building brewery site at North 10th Street and Montgomery Avenue in Philadelphia.

Class & Nachod was an established name in Philadelphia brewing, operating prior to Prohibition and returning to production following the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. During the mid-1930s, when canned beer was first introduced to the commercial market, Class & Nachod packaged select offerings in flat top cans. The Class Pilsner can featured the American Can Company "Keglined" trademark along with patent markings and instructional side panels.

Among breweriana collectors, the Class Pilsner flat top is renowned for its exceptional scarcity, with only a small handful of authentic surviving specimens accounted for. Variations in side-panel text and markings exist among documented examples, reflecting minor production adjustments during the brewery's active canning run. Today, it remains one of the premier historical artifacts of pre-war Philadelphia brewing.