Guinness's Ale Flat Top Can

Guinness's Ale from Oakland, CA

During the 1950s, Arthur Guinness Son & Co. entered into a licensing agreement with the Goebel Brewing Company to brew and package Guinness products domestically in the United States. While Goebel was headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, the company also operated a secondary brewing facility in Oakland, California, which produced regional runs of both core Goebel products and licensed Guinness offerings.

Cans labeled with the Goebel Oakland mandatory text are especially prized among collectors of American breweriana. Because Goebel's West Coast tenure and the Guinness partnership lasted for a relatively brief window, cans bearing the Oakland designation were produced in substantially smaller numbers than their Midwestern counterparts.

The can design prominently displays the traditional Irish harp trademark alongside bold red and green lettering on a metallic background. Variations exist among surviving examples, displaying subtle differences in the mandatory plant wording, rim borders, and canning marks. This can represents a notable chapter in breweriana history, highlighting a rare domestic contract canning endeavor for the storied Dublin brand.