Jennings Deluxe Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Jennings Deluxe Beer Tab Top Can

The Jennings Deluxe Beer 12-ounce tab top can is a classic example of straight steel container packaging from the 1960s, brewed and canned by the Cold Spring Brewing Company of Cold Spring, Minnesota. Designed as a dedicated private-label release, the can showcases a metallic gold field patterned with four-pointed starbursts and a central dark blue and teal oval. Below the brand lettering, the label explicitly designates that the beer was "Packed Especially For Jennings Liquors, St. Louis Park, Minnesota" and features the store's telephone mnemonic slogan, "*** DIAL WET BREW ***."

The Jennings Deluxe brand originated in the late 1950s when Milt Stralow, manager of Jennings Liquors in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, decided to expand the retailer's successful private-label spirits line into packaged beer. Following discussions with Cold Spring Brewing Company representative Byron Nelson in 1958, the brewery began packaging Jennings Deluxe Beer as a proprietary house lager. Promoted as the "Finest Golden Lager Beer," the house brand was sold directly through the St. Louis Park store into the mid-1960s.

Founded in 1874 in Stearns County, Minnesota, Cold Spring Brewing Company established itself by marketing beers made with natural local spring water. The brewery successfully navigated Prohibition by bottling mineral water and producing carbonated soft drinks before resuming alcoholic brewing operations upon repeal. As large national breweries drove significant industry consolidation throughout the post-World War II decades, Cold Spring endured by establishing a flexible business model. In addition to brewing its own flagship beers, the plant actively took on contract brewing and private-label canning partnerships for independent retailers, grocers, and distributors across the Upper Midwest.

Among breweriana collectors, this can is an attractive piece within the niche of vintage Midwestern private labels and retail store brands. Its explicit local merchant ties to suburban Minneapolis and its playful promotional phone mnemonic give it enduring historical appeal.