Golden Age Select Export Beer Quart

Golden Age Select Export Quart

Golden Age Breweries, Inc. operated out of Spokane, Washington, establishing its operations in the historic former Schade Brewery facility following the repeal of Prohibition. In late 1937, Golden Age made regional brewing history by becoming the first brewery in Washington State to package and market beer in quart cans. To facilitate packaging the larger thirty-two ounce containers, the company made significant investments in specialized canning machinery and placed substantial can orders manufactured by the Continental Can Company.

The Golden Age Select Export Beer quart showcases bold Pacific Northwest commercial graphic styling from the pre-World War II era. The design features prominent brand lettering, distinct metallic accent bands, and the required Internal Revenue Tax Paid (IRTP) statements on the side panels. Marketed for home consumption and social gatherings, these large-format containers provided consumers with a convenient alternative to glass growlers and multi-bottle packs.

The brewery distributed its canned beer throughout eastern Washington, northern Idaho, Montana, and select California markets through dedicated railroad spurs connected to the Spokane bottling and canning plant. Variations of the Golden Age quart exist, exhibiting minor differences in alcohol statement legal text, mandatory brewery markings, and layout adjustments across production batches. Because nationwide wartime metal conservation orders curtailed the manufacturing of commercial cone top quart cans in the early 1940s, the packaging lifespan of this Spokane quart was relatively brief, leaving behind a celebrated artifact of Inland Empire brewing history.