Kings Taste Beer Cone Top Can

King's Taste Beer Cone Top Can

This 12-ounce low profile cone top can represents a classic example of pre-World War II West Coast packaging. Manufactured with an applied funnel neck and concave bottom lid, the can features an Internal Revenue Tax Paid statement alongside the mandatory alcohol caption specifying that the beverage contains not over 4% alcohol by weight ("N.O. 4%"). The label artwork features bold Art Deco styling, centered around an ornate, jeweled crown resting on a tasseled cushion against radiating geometric sunburst rays, with prominent credits at the base designating distribution for Hagstrom's Food Stores of Oakland, California.

King's Taste was developed as a proprietary store brand for Hagstrom's Food Stores, an East Bay grocery chain headquartered in Oakland. During the 1930s, chain grocers increasingly commissioned their own private-label beers to offer value-oriented alternatives to regional and national flagships. Hagstrom's partnered with contract brewers to package King's Taste in both bottles and cone top cans. The brand relied on Hagstrom's retail network for shelf space rather than mass media campaigns, catering directly to budget-conscious shoppers before disappearing as private-label alignments shifted in the postwar period.

Although earlier bottled versions were produced by Globe Brewing Company, this canned issue was brewed by the Rainier Brewing Company at its major facility located at 15th and Bryant Streets in San Francisco, California. The Rainier moniker traced back to the Pacific Northwest's historic Seattle Brewing and Malting Company. Following the repeal of Prohibition, the company established major production in San Francisco, expanding into one of California's largest brewing operations. Rainier maximized its high-capacity canning lines throughout the late 1930s by supplying widely distributed house labels alongside private-label contract brews for grocers and wholesalers throughout Northern California. The San Francisco plant continued brewing through several ownership changes until industry consolidation eventually shuttered the historic facility.

For collectors of vintage breweriana, private-label cone tops from Northern California hold enduring appeal. Because regional store brands were marketed within restricted supermarket territories and typically purchased for everyday consumption, surviving examples are far scarcer than national releases, making the can a prized representative of Bay Area grocery and brewing heritage.