Drewrys Extra Dry Beer Flat Top Can

Drewrys Extra Dry Chicago Can

Drewrys Extra Dry Beer produced by Drewrys Ltd. in Chicago, Illinois, holds a prominent spot in breweriana history. Although Drewrys was primarily based in South Bend, Indiana, following its original Canadian roots, the company operated a secondary packaging and brewing footprint out of Chicago. For collectors, cans bearing the Chicago mandatory statement are considerably more elusive than the widely circulated South Bend counterparts.

Iconic Imagery and Themed Series

The graphics on Drewrys Extra Dry cans frequently featured the company's trademark Canadian Mountie mascot, honoring the brewery's founding in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Drewrys was also an industry pioneer in multi-colored pictorial can sets designed to encourage full-set collecting and social gathering displays. These included sports silhouette designs, astrological horoscope illustrations, and facial character analyses. The Chicago facility canned several of these distinct variations, making them sought-after targets for specialized set collectors.

The Chicago Tavern Pyramid Find

A notable piece of breweriana lore specifically attached to the Chicago canning run stems from a well-known find in a Chicago tavern during the 1970s. Decades earlier, a substantial advertising display pyramid had been built out of Drewrys cans, with the cans soldered together to maintain structure behind the bar. When the installation was finally taken down and salvaged, many of these Chicago cans entered the hobby carrying solder residue and heat marks, creating a distinct backstory tied to the preservation of that specific batch.

The Drewrys Extra Dry Chicago flat top represents an important era of regional branch-plant distribution and graphic marketing in American brewing history.