Milwaukee's Best Light Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Milwaukee's Best Light 12 Oz Can

This 12-ounce all-aluminum tab top can represents the mid-1980s rollout of Milwaukee's Best Light. The packaging features a mandatory UPC barcode, metric measurement markings, and a six-city brewery line credited to "A. Gettelman div. Miller." Notable artwork on the front face includes a prominent blue shield containing a detailed vintage woodcut-style illustration of horse-drawn drays hauling wooden beer barrels outside a 19th-century Milwaukee brewery building. Stylized hop blossoms and barley sprigs frame the central shield, reinforcing the beer's traditional ingredient profile.

The Brand

The Milwaukee's Best moniker originated in 1895 as a local Wisconsin offering. After Miller acquired the brand and reintroduced it to national distribution in 1984 as an accessible value lager, the company launched Milwaukee's Best Light in 1986. Created to compete directly in the rapidly expanding sub-premium light lager category, the brand was marketed on no-nonsense drinkability and dependable flavor at an economical price point. The light variety quickly grew into a high-volume national staple, remaining a core budget offering through subsequent corporate transitions under Miller, MillerCoors, and Molson Coors.

The Brewery

The A. Gettelman Brewing Company trace its origins to 1856, when George Schweickhart established the Menomonee Brewery in Milwaukee's Menomonee River Valley. Adam Gettelman assumed full ownership in the 1870s, establishing the enterprise as the resilient, boutique counterpart among Milwaukee's famous brewing giants alongside Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller. Gettelman weathered Prohibition by manufacturing non-alcoholic near beer and diversifying into manufacturing before resuming commercial brewing upon Repeal in 1933. In 1961, adjacent neighbor Miller Brewing Company purchased Gettelman's plant and intellectual property, continuing to preserve the historic Gettelman divisional imprint on selected packaging lines for decades.

Collecting Context

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can serves as a compelling cross-era piece connecting nineteenth-century Milwaukee brewing heritage to the major light-beer expansions of the 1980s. It holds strong appeal among collectors specializing in Wisconsin brewing history, Miller secondary division imprints, and vintage American value-brand can typography.