Hausbrau Premium Lager Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Maier's Hausbrau Tab Top Can

This 12-ounce straight steel tab top container represents the mid-1960s packaging era of the Maier Brewing Company of Los Angeles, California. The label design features a crisp alpine mountain peak rising against a vibrant blue field, paired with bold Germanic blackletter typography for the Hausbrau title. The lower portion of the body is highlighted by a distinctive enamel red band beneath a central white oval that designates the beverage as "Premium Lager Beer," anchored below by a stylized crest emblem. Manufactured during the widespread industry adoption of pull-tab convenience, the straight steel construction exemplifies American canned beer packaging of its decade.

Hausbrau was developed as a Bavarian-inspired regional lager, conceived to appeal to consumers seeking traditional European brewing cues at an everyday price point. Through its alpine imagery and Germanic nomenclature, the brand promoted an image of cold, mountain-pure refreshment. Maier distributed Hausbrau alongside an expansive lineup of proprietary labels, value brands, and supermarket contract brews throughout California and the Western states until the brand was eventually phased out during industry shifts in the late 1960s and 1970s.

The Maier Brewing Company traced its origins to the 1870s Philadelphia Brewery in downtown Los Angeles. Joseph Maier and partner George Zobelein acquired the operation in 1882, eventually becoming the Maier Brewing Company in 1907 at its long-standing East Commercial Street location. The brewery endured Prohibition by producing near-beer, soft drinks, and tonics, successfully resuming full production after repeal. In the post-World War II period, Maier became an industrial powerhouse in Southern California, producing immense volume led by its famous Brew 102 and dozens of private labels. Facing intense pressure from national giants, the plant was sold to General Brewing in the early 1970s before permanently shuttering.

For breweriana collectors, this can represents an evocative artifact of Los Angeles' mid-century brewing landscape. Maier's wide variety of colorful, short-lived private and contract labels provides a rich collecting category that documents the final golden era of independent metropolitan West Coast brewing.