Heileman's Old Style Lager Beer Flat Top Can

Heileman's Old Style 11 oz Flat Top

Produced by the G. Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, this flat top can represents an uncommon 11-ounce packaging format for the brewery's flagship Old Style Lager brand. While standard 12-ounce containers dominated the post-war canned beer market, regional brewers occasionally distributed 11-ounce cans to target specific market niches, comply with local retail price points, or adapt to regional distributor preferences.

Label Art and Iconography

The front label is celebrated for its elaborate pictorial illustration showcasing Old World brewing traditions. Set within a pictorial panorama, the artwork depicts a historic European village and monastic brewing complex complete with an ox-drawn transport wagon laden with casks, a timbered tavern, stone cellar vaults revealing aging barrels marked "Old Style Lager," and monks gathered around a table enjoying fresh brew.

Directly above the pictorial scene, the brewery highlights its proprietary brewing standards in text, emphasizing old-world methods, choice domestic and imported hops, in-house malting using pure Wisconsin spring water, double fermentation, and extended lagering. A red corner ribbon angles across the upper right edge of the central vignette, noting the brewery's official signature and its La Crosse origin. The upper gold band features intricate scroll filigree framing a traditional Bavarian-style cellarman raising a foaming glass, set above the bold Old English typography of the Heileman name.

Collector Notes

Among breweriana collectors, this specific can is identified by its 11-ounce volume and the placement of its mandatory volume declaration, which appears exclusively to the right of the can seam rather than on the face. Because 11-ounce flat top cans were produced in far smaller runs than their standard 12-ounce counterparts, this variant stands out as a notable piece of mid-century Upper Midwest brewing history.