Manhattan Premium Ale Flat Top Can

Manhattan Premium Ale Flat Top

This 12-ounce flat top container represents an early canning era release from Chicago's Manhattan Brewing Company. Manufactured as an instructional flat top can, the side panels include step-by-step opening directions alongside period tax statements. Visually, the can is distinguished by its warm copper-toned metallic finish set against a stark, black silhouette of a metropolitan skyline along the lower half. Anchoring the upper portion is the brewery's heraldic emblem featuring an eagle perched atop a crest with an interwoven "MBC" monogram.

Manhattan Premium Ale was introduced as a premier offering positioned to evoke metropolitan sophistication and urban refinement. Pairing Art Deco architectural imagery with elegant script lettering, the brand marketed itself as an upscale choice for city dwellers in the post-Repeal market. Like many regional ale brands of the mid-twentieth century, Manhattan Premium eventually faded as national mass-market lagers consolidated distribution across the country.

Founded in 1893 on Chicago's South Side along Emerald Avenue, the Manhattan Brewing Company holds one of the most storied pasts in American brewing history. During Prohibition, the facility maintained active illicit operations under cover names such as Malt Maid and the Fort Dearborn Products Company, having been acquired by underworld figures affiliated with Johnny Torrio and Al Capone's Chicago Outfit. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the brewery resumed legal operations under its authentic Manhattan banner and became an early adopter of modern canning lines. In the late 1940s, the company was reorganized and renamed the Canadian Ace Brewing Company, continuing production on Emerald Avenue until closing its doors permanently in 1968.

For breweriana collectors, pre-war opening-instruction flat tops represent a pivotal chapter in twentieth-century packaging design. Cans from the Manhattan Brewing Company are particularly admired for combining dramatic skyline lithography with the vibrant lore of Chicago's industrial and cultural history.