Gettelman Milwaukee Beer Flat Top Can

Gettelman Milwaukee Beer Picnic Can

Dating to the mid-1950s, this flat top can is part of a celebrated thematic series produced by the A. Gettelman Brewing Company depicting leisurely suburban and traditional social pastimes. Cataloged under the "Picnic" motif, the can features an elaborate outdoor beer garden setting rendered in rich green with cream and metallic gold accents. A central figure clad in traditional Bavarian lederhosen and vest hoists a foaming pilsner glass within the circular Gettelman laurel wreath crest. Surrounding him are wooden casks, an Alpine-style plank chair bearing a cut-out heart, and a table set with Swiss cheese and sausage, while an outdoor gathering of patrons dines in the background. The lower rim displays the mandatory statement of twelve fluid ounces and brewery identification, produced without an alcohol content statement.

Gettelman Milwaukee Beer served as the brewery's primary popular-priced lager, promoted heavily across southeastern Wisconsin and neighboring Midwestern markets. During the postwar decade, the company embraced modern advertising with enthusiasm, popularizing the catchy jingle "Get—Get—Gettelman" across regional radio and early local television broadcasts. The brewery used lively illustrations and folk-inspired packaging to distinguish its offerings from larger national rivals. Following Gettelman's purchase in 1961, the brand was maintained briefly before being phased out as corporate priorities shifted toward wider national labels.

The brewery traces its roots to 1856, when George Schweickhart founded the Menomonee Brewery in Milwaukee's Menomonee River Valley. Adam Gettelman joined the operation in 1871 and assumed sole ownership in 1876, formally establishing the A. Gettelman Brewing Company. Long recognized as the smallest member of Milwaukee's historic "Big Five" brewers—alongside Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, and Blatz—Gettelman fostered considerable innovation, pioneering the famous "$1,000 Beer" purity guarantee in the 1890s and helping develop the modern stainless steel beer barrel during the 1930s. After weathering Prohibition with near-beer products and navigating a difficult citywide brewery strike in 1953, the family-operated firm was sold to neighbor Miller Brewing Company in January 1961.

Graphic mid-century cans that combine narrative artwork with commercial packaging hold an enduring place in breweriana. Gettelman's illustrated leisure series represents an inventive era of tinplate lithography, making the Picnic design a favorite centerpiece among collectors of Wisconsin brewing history and vintage pictorial cans.