Encore Brewmaster's Private Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Schlitz Encore Super-Premium Can

This 12-ounce straight steel tab top can dates to 1971 and features a distinctive silver and white finish. The upper half of the label displays elaborate heraldic artwork depicting a rampant lion and unicorn flanking a central fleur-de-lis emblem, positioned beneath the brewery's founding year of 1849. Below the crest, a scroll highlights the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. name, followed by the descriptor "Brewmaster's Private Recipe Beer". The bottom rim includes a mandatory line listing eight brewery plant cities, including Milwaukee, Brooklyn, and Tampa.

Schlitz introduced Encore in the late 1960s and expanded its distribution in 1971 to serve as the company's contender in the emerging super-premium beer market, designed to compete directly against rivals like Anheuser-Busch's Michelob and Pabst's Andeker. Marketing campaigns positioned Encore as an upscale, refined lager worth experiencing repeatedly, using slogans that promised a "brewed-in lightness" paired with rich flavor. Despite the upscale branding and nationwide multi-plant packaging, the label had a relatively short lifespan and was eventually phased out during Schlitz's broader market shifts in the 1970s.

The Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company was established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1849 by August Krug and later taken over by Joseph Schlitz in 1858. The brewery gained national prominence after shipping beer to Chicago during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, coining the famous slogan "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." Schlitz survived Prohibition by manufacturing malt syrups and non-alcoholic beverages, emerging to become one of America's largest brewing operations through rapid postwar expansion and multi-facility production. However, recipe reformulations and industrial challenges during the 1970s caused significant market declines, leading to the company's eventual purchase by Stroh Brewery Company in 1982.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can serves as an interesting artifact of early 1970s brewing rivalries and Schlitz's efforts to claim space in the specialty beer tier. The multi-city mandatory line and ornate heraldic imagery make it a notable piece for collectors focused on Wisconsin brewing heritage and vintage steel tab tops.