Great Falls Select Beer Flat Top Can

Great Falls Select Flat Top Can

This flat top can represents a mid-to-late 1940s release of Great Falls Select, produced during the tenure of Pacific Northwest brewing magnate Emil Sick. The can includes an Internal Revenue Tax Paid statement alongside a state-mandated alcohol caption specifying not over 4% alcohol by weight ("N.O. 4%"). The front panel features an oval medallion dominated by a red banner reading "Great Falls Select" above the script designation "Fine Beer." Above the banner sits the brewery's corporate insignia—a stylized red numeral "6" emblem—set beneath an illustration of the Great Falls brewery complex with smoking industrial stacks. The red outer body frames the central medallion with horizontal striping, bordered by text proclaiming the beverage "A Sicks' Quality Product" near the upper rim and a "Unit of the Worlds Great Brewing Organizations" along the bottom.

Great Falls Select was introduced as the flagship label of the plant, marketed heavily across Montana and neighboring northern states. Promoted through print campaigns emphasizing satisfaction guarantees, purity, and regional pride, the brand became a staple throughout northwestern bars and households. It remained the brewery's signature product through multiple corporate transitions until the facility's eventual closure.

The brewery's origins date to 1895, when the American Brewing and Malting Company was established on the west side of Great Falls, Montana. Closed during Prohibition, the property was acquired in 1933 by Emil Sick, who revitalized the operation as Great Falls Breweries, Inc., folding it into his growing network of regional breweries anchored by Seattle's Rainier. Between 1944 and 1949, the firm operated directly under the name Sicks' Great Falls Breweries, Inc. In 1949, Sick sold his interests back to a local Montana investment group. Great Falls Breweries persevered as one of the last independent regional brewing bastions in the Northern Rockies before being sold to Blitz-Weinhard in 1966 and ultimately shuttering in 1968 amid macro-brewery competition.

For breweriana enthusiasts, Montana flat tops represent a celebrated chapter of Western brewing history. This can stands out as a prime artifact from the brief window when Emil Sick's corporate identity and iconic insignia were emblazoned directly on Great Falls containers, making it an essential piece of northern frontier breweriana.