Guinness's Lager Beer Flat Top Can

Goebel's Oakland Guinness Lager

This 12-ounce flat top can represents an intriguing 1950s collaboration between an iconic Irish brewing house and an American regional brewer. Produced at the Oakland, California facility of the Goebel Brewing Company, the can prominently carries licensing credentials from Arthur Guinness Son & Co., Ltd. of Dublin and London. The front features a large oval medallion displaying the brand name, a rampant heraldic beast crest, licensing declarations, and a specific production control number across the central banner, while the top band highlights the "Brite Lager" designation.

In the early 1950s, Arthur Guinness Son & Co. sought to capture a share of the burgeoning American market for lighter, mass-market beers. After shutting down its own short-lived domestic facility in Long Island City, New York, Guinness partnered with Goebel under a licensing and contract brewing agreement to produce Guinness-branded lagers and ales on American soil. Marketed as crisp, premium alternatives that avoided transatlantic import duties, these products attempted to expand the Guinness portfolio beyond heavy dark stout. However, American consumers persistently associated the brand strictly with stout, and the licensing arrangement concluded after only a few years.

Goebel Brewing Company was established in Detroit, Michigan, in 1873 by August Goebel and built a formidable regional reputation before and after Prohibition. In 1950, seeking nationwide reach, Goebel expanded to the West Coast by acquiring the former Golden West Brewing Company plant in Oakland, California. Although this gave Goebel a prime manufacturing foothold on the Pacific coast, intensifying competition from large national shipping breweries proved difficult to withstand. Goebel discontinued operations at the Oakland plant in the mid-1950s and was eventually acquired by the Stroh Brewery Company in 1964.

Surviving examples of this can hold significant appeal for breweriana enthusiasts, particularly cross-genre collectors interested in West Coast brewing history and Guinness ephemera. Because the production window at Goebel's California plant was brief, cans carrying the Oakland mandatory statement are especially prized across the hobby.