Highlander Premium Beer Flat Top Can

Highlander Premium Beer Flat Top

This 12-ounce flat top can dates to the 1950s and represents a mid-century release of Highlander Premium Beer from the Missoula Brewing Company of Missoula, Montana. The design is framed by bold red and black tartan plaid bands across the top and bottom, bordering a clean white center panel. A key detail of this specific printing variation is the solid black script typography without the silver drop shadows seen on other production runs. Positioned directly above the sweeping brand name is the brewery's slogan, "NONE FINER—ANYWHERE," with the mandatory statement along the lower rim confirming it was brewed and filled at the Missoula facility.

The Highlander brand was first introduced in 1910. Brewery lore holds that founder Joseph Wagner secured permission to use the moniker from Jacob Ruppert, owner of the New York Highlanders baseball club, shortly before the team became the Yankees. Highlander quickly established itself as a regional staple, marketed with lively campaigns and slogans like "Say HI for Highlander". Its status as a Big Sky cultural icon was later immortalized in Norman Maclean’s acclaimed novella A River Runs Through It.

The Missoula Brewing Company traces its roots to 1890, operating near Rattlesnake Creek at the base of Waterworks Hill in Missoula. After surviving Prohibition by manufacturing non-alcoholic beverages, the plant resumed brewing upon repeal. For a period during the late 1930s and 1940s, the facility operated under the Sick's brewing network as Sick's Missoula Brewery before returning to the Missoula Brewing Company name. Despite strong local loyalty, mounting competition from large national shipping breweries and the routing of Interstate 90 through the brewery's physical property led to its eventual closure in 1964.

Regional cans from Montana and the Pacific Northwest are highly sought after by breweriana collectors. Highlander flat tops are celebrated for their classic mid-century Scottish plaid motif, and subtle variations across printings—such as the presence or absence of metallic shadow effects—make them popular centerpieces in Western beer can collections.