Glasgo Select Beer Cone Top Can

Glasgo Select Beer Cone Top Can

This 12-ounce high-profile cone top can dates to 1949 and represents a distinct post-World War II regional package from Virginia. Fabricated in soldered steel, the container features a bold black body flanked by decorative looped-ribbon borders against metallic bands along the upper and lower rims. At the upper left sits a red square insignia containing a stylized monogram crest, while "Glasgo" is rendered in sweeping yellow script positioned above "Select" and block-lettered "BEER." The can is fitted with a period crown cap imprinted with "VIRGINIA TAX PAID 2 CENTS," documenting the state-mandated beverage tax collection of the late 1940s.

Glasgo Select Beer was introduced in 1949 as a rebranded flagship beverage designed to capture market share across Tidewater and central Virginia. Contemporary newspaper announcements promoted the label as a fresh standard for quality in the Commonwealth, focusing on distribution partnerships across regional hubs. To build local brand awareness, the brewery turned to emerging broadcast media, notably sponsoring regional airings of the syndicated television series Sports Album on Norfolk's WTAR-TV.

The beer was produced by the Glasgow Brewing Company, Inc. (often styled as Glasgo on packaging) at a manufacturing facility located at Boush Street and Brooke Avenue in Norfolk, Virginia. Originally established around the turn of the twentieth century as an Anheuser-Busch depot, the site was converted into a full brewing operation following Prohibition by the Atlantic Ice & Coal Company (later the Atlantic Company) in 1936. Murray Glasgow took over the operations in 1949 to run the plant independently. Facing intense competition from large national shipping brewers, the enterprise remained in production for only a brief period before brewing operations ceased in the early 1950s.

Mid-century cone top cans from smaller Southern packaging facilities remain compelling artifacts for regional breweriana historians. Because the company operated under the Glasgo moniker for merely a few years before the industry moved permanently to flat tops, this can stands as a memorable snapshot of Norfolk’s post-war brewing heritage.