Northern Beer Cone Top Can

Superior's Classic 3.2% Cone Top

This 12-ounce cone top container represents Northern Beer, packaged by the Northern Brewing Company of Superior, Wisconsin. A notable feature on the face of the can is the explicit alcohol statement, "NOT OVER 3.2% ALCOHOL BY WEIGHT," printed directly below the brewery's trademark slogan, "It's Superior". The central design incorporates an oval emblem illustrating evergreen pine trees set above a dark panel with script lettering, flanked by decorative star accents and the lower manufacturing credit stating "BREWED AND FILLED BY NORTHERN."

Northern Beer served as the premier flagship label for the brewery, engineered to capture the loyalty of northern Wisconsin and the Duluth–Superior Twin Ports market. The enduring promotional phrase "It's Superior" played cleverly on both product standard and civic pride, tying the beverage directly to its home city and the shores of Lake Superior. Supported by extensive distribution across regional hubs like Spooner and Rice Lake, Northern enjoyed immense popularity, at times outselling larger commercial rivals in its home territory.

The brewery traces its roots to 1890, when Louis Rueping and John A. Klinkert founded the Klinkert Brewing Company in West Superior. Following the dissolution of their partnership, Rueping reorganized the enterprise into the Northern Brewing Company in 1898. The company persevered through the dry years of Prohibition and reopened upon Repeal, growing into one of the city's key industrial employers. As regional breweries faced mounting pressure from national consolidation in the post-war era, Northern eventually ceased brewing in Superior in 1967, with label rights transferring to Minnesota's Cold Spring Brewing Company.

Within the breweriana community, cans from independent northern Wisconsin breweries maintain strong historical appeal. This cone top is especially sought after by regional specialists and collectors focused on non-IRTP low-alcohol variants from the mid-twentieth century.