Miller Select Beer Flat Top Can

Miller Select Flat Top Can

The Miller Select Beer flat top can represents one of the earliest canned offerings produced by the Miller Brewing Company following the commercial introduction of canned beer in the mid-1930s. Notable for its side narrative panel that opens by celebrating "82 years" of brewing progress, the container highlights the brewery's heritage dating back to its mid-nineteenth-century founding. The front design displays "Contents 12 Fluid Ounces Same As Bottle" across the upper rim and "Cool Before Serving" along the base. Anchoring the layout is Miller's iconic "Girl in the Moon" illustration set within a starred circular medallion, flanked by horizontal accent bands and positioned beneath the Miller script logo and the slogan "The Best Milwaukee Beer".

Miller Select was positioned during the post-Prohibition era as a reliable, quality lager, marketed heavily on Milwaukee's reputation as America's brewing capital. The brand utilized established slogans to communicate regional pride and consistency during a period when consumers were transitioning from bottles to canned beverages. While Miller Select served as an important part of the company's packaged lineup in the late 1930s, Miller ultimately consolidated its core marketing and production around the High Life label, phasing out the Select designation.

The Miller Brewing Company was founded in 1855 when Frederick Miller purchased the Suburban Plank Road Brewery in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley. Miller utilized specialized yeast brought from Germany and stored his lager in natural cooling caves hollowed out of the valley bluffs. During Prohibition, the company survived by pivoting production to soda, malt syrup, and non-alcoholic malt beverages. Upon Repeal in 1933, Miller rapidly modernized its facilities and embraced flat top metal cans to facilitate wide distribution, eventually growing into one of the country's dominant national brewing enterprises.

For breweriana collectors, pre-World War II flat top cans from the founding years of the canning revolution represent key historical milestones. The combination of early opening instruction era styling, the celebrated "Girl in the Moon" artwork, and Milwaukee brewing heritage makes this early Miller issue a standout piece in American can history.