Little King Premium Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Horlacher Little King Tab Top Can

The Little King Premium Beer 12 oz tab top can represents a notable chapter in contract packaging from the Horlacher Brewing Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Produced specifically for King Kullen Grocery Company, Inc., based in Westbury, New York—widely recognized in commercial history as one of America's earliest supermarket chains—the brand served as a dedicated house label for the grocer's shelves.

Contract Brewing Heritage

Throughout the mid-20th century, regional breweries faced mounting pressure from large national shipping breweries. To optimize plant capacity, Horlacher utilized its Allentown facility along North Third and Gordon Streets to brew and package specialty private labels for grocery networks, department stores, and independent distributors across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The Little King label was part of this contract brewing initiative, delivering Horlacher-packaged beer directly into the New York metropolitan and Long Island retail markets.

Design and Collector Details

The can features bold branding centered around the "Little King" title, paired with typography emphasizing its premium designation. The mandatory side-panel text explicitly credits Horlacher Brewing Co. as the brewer and packer alongside the King Kullen Grocery Company distribution statement.

For can collectors, the label holds significant interest due to variations that appeared across canning runs. These variations include subtle shifts in distributor text formatting, differing copyright placement, and slight modifications in the layout of the fluid ounce declarations. The Little King tab top remains a sought-after piece for both Pennsylvania breweriana collectors and specialists in vintage supermarket private-label cans.