Jax Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

New Orleans' Classic Jax Tab Top

This 12-ounce straight steel tab top container represents a notable chapter in Gulf Coast packaging history, featuring a glued seam construction. The label design prominently highlights the equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson framed within a laurel wreath, honoring the monument in New Orleans' Jackson Square. Anchoring the lower portion of the graphic is the distinctive cursive tagline "Premium Brewed," set against a blue banner below the bold red Jax emblem.

Jackson Brewing Company introduced the Jax moniker as shorthand for its flagship lager, naming both the brand and the facility after Andrew Jackson. Jax was marketed across the American South as a refreshing regional standard. In the 1950s and 1960s, the company ran celebrated advertising efforts, including animated television commercials voiced by the comedy duo Mike Nichols and Elaine May emphasizing natural brewing ingredients. Slogans such as "The Drink of Friendship" and "Real Beer Taste" helped solidify Jax as a staple in southern taverns and households. Following the closure of the New Orleans brewery in the 1970s, the brand rights were acquired by the Pearl Brewing Company in San Antonio, Texas.

Founded in 1890 by Lawrence Fabacher along Decatur Street, Jackson Brewing Company grew to become the largest brewery in the Southern United States. It weathered Prohibition by manufacturing near-beer and bottling soft drinks. In the 1930s, the company navigated a territorial trademark dispute with Florida's Jacksonville Brewing Company, eventually acquiring full trademark rights across all markets in the mid-1950s. Mounting pressure and consolidation from national brewing corporations ultimately led to the historic New Orleans plant closing its doors in 1974. Today, the landmark French Quarter brewhouse remains an active commercial and cultural hub.

Among breweriana enthusiasts, Jax cans serve as essential cornerstones of Southern brewing heritage. Straight steel tab tops with glued side seams capture an important manufacturing phase from the late 1960s and early 1970s, making this New Orleans issue a prized centerpiece for regional collectors.