Kings Taste Beer Cone Top Can

Kings Taste Beer Cone Top

The Kings Taste Beer 12-ounce low-profile cone top can represents a classic example of late-1930s pre-World War II packaging. Manufactured from heavy sheet steel with a soldered side seam and a conical top designed for a crown cap, the container bears an internal revenue tax-paid notice alongside an alcohol content declaration specifying not over four percent alcohol by weight. The design is anchored by Art Deco graphic elements, showcasing an ornate royal crown framed within geometric color panels, with a lower mandatory line indicating that the beer was packed for Hagstrom's Food Stores of Oakland, California.

Kings Taste was created as a private-label grocery brand for Hagstrom's Food Stores, an East Bay regional supermarket chain that operated throughout Northern California during the mid-20th century. In the years following Repeal, grocery chains commonly arranged contract-brewing agreements with local breweries to offer exclusive house brands at competitive price points. Branded with regal motifs to suggest quality, Kings Taste served as an affordable everyday table beer for store patrons. As retail distribution models evolved and canning formats updated in subsequent decades, the proprietary label was retired.

The beer was produced and packaged by the Rainier Brewing Company at its plant in San Francisco, California. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the San Francisco Rainier brewery expanded rapidly to become one of the largest brewing entities on the West Coast. Beyond distributing its own flagship lines, the plant actively leveraged its canning capacity to produce a wide assortment of contract labels and store brands for regional wholesalers and retail grocers. The San Francisco operation maintained steady production through the pre-war and wartime periods until the facility was sold to Theodore Hamm Brewing Company in the 1950s.

Pre-war cone tops from West Coast contract lines represent a distinct niche in breweriana collecting. Cans tied directly to regional supermarket chains like Hagstrom's offer tangible insight into early canned beer merchandising and Bay Area commercial history. The combination of clean Art Deco styling, regional grocery heritage, and pre-war cone construction makes Kings Taste a widely recognized historical artifact among cone top enthusiasts.