Highlander Beer 12 Oz Zip Top Can

Highlander Beer Zip Top Can

This straight steel zip top container dates to the early 1960s, representing the final era of packaging from Montana's historic Missoula Brewing Company. The label design is distinguished by dark metallic red-and-black plaid tartan bands framing the top and bottom rims, reinforcing the brand's Scottish motif. Above the sweeping, underlined script brand logo sits the brewery's slogan, "NONE FINER—ANYWHERE", while the mandatory statement along the lower edge credits production directly to the Missoula Brewing Company.

Highlander was introduced in 1910, famously receiving permission to use the name from the New York Highlanders baseball club shortly before they became the Yankees. Positioned as Montana's premier regional lager, Highlander was marketed aggressively across the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest with colorful advertising campaigns, illustrated calendars, and tavern signs. For over half a century, it served as a mainstay brew in Montana taprooms and homes, cementing its place as one of the state's most enduring beverage labels.

The Missoula Brewing Company was established in 1890 by Joseph Wagner in Missoula, Montana, eventually operating a major plant at the base of Waterworks Hill near Rattlesnake Creek. The brewery weathered Prohibition and resumed operations upon Repeal, briefly operating under Emil Sick's brewing network as Sick's Missoula Brewery during the late 1930s and 1940s before reverting to the independent Missoula Brewing Company name under the Steinbrenner family. Increasing competition from national shipping breweries and the routing of Interstate 90 through the brewery grounds ultimately forced the historic plant to cease operations in 1964.

Among breweriana collectors, this can holds special significance as an artifact from the twilight years of an iconic Western brewing institution. Because zip-top openers were introduced to the brewing industry just a few years before the plant shut down, examples in this can style document the final stage of the original brewery's packaging evolution.