Glasgo Select Beer Cone Top Can

Norfolk's Postwar Cone Top Classic

Dating from 1949, this twelve-ounce cone top container represents the twilight of the cone top era in postwar America. The can features an Internal Revenue Tax Paid statement, placing its manufacture firmly in the period prior to the repeal of federal tax-statement mandates in the early 1950s. Visually, the design stands out with an intricate looping guilloche pattern encircling both the top and bottom borders, framing a solid dark body. A small red emblem anchors the upper left, while the brand name is emblazoned in flowing yellow script set above an intertwined decorative flourish, with "Select" and an outlined "BEER" anchored cleanly beneath.

Marketed as Glasgo Select Beer, the brand served as a localized premium lager aimed at consumers in eastern Virginia and surrounding tidewater markets. Positioned as a premier table beer suitable for home consumption and local taverns, the brand sought to carve out loyalty amid the postwar influx of national shipping brands. Its time on retail shelves was brief, however, as independent regional brands faced steep marketing competition, and the label disappeared when packaging operations ceased.

The brewery behind the can was the Glasgo Brewing Company, located in Norfolk, Virginia. Operating from an industrial brewery and cold storage site at Boush Street and Brooke Avenue—previously utilized by the Atlantic Ice & Coal Company and the Atlantic Company—the Glasgo operation was incorporated in 1949 to revive regional production in the port city. Despite effort to modernize and package canned beer for local trade, industry consolidation and shifting economics quickly caught up with the firm. The brewery shuttered its brewing operations in the early 1950s, after which the property transitioned to cold storage.

For breweriana collectors, this can holds special significance within the realm of mid-Atlantic and Southern brewery history. Virginia cone tops from short-lived postwar operators are deeply appreciated by regional specialists and cone top enthusiasts alike, representing a fleeting chapter in Norfolk’s industrial brewing legacy.