Old Crown Premium Quality Ale 12 Oz Zip Top Can

Fort Wayne's Old Crown Premium Ale

This 12-ounce straight steel zip top container represents packaging produced by the Old Crown Brewing Corp. of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The front panel design features horizontal striping layered behind a prominent crest and crown bearing the founding date "1862". The shield highlights bold Old Crown gothic lettering above "Premium Quality" script and a dedicated lower banner reading "ALE". Along the bottom rim, mandatory text reads "BREWED AND PACKED BY OLD CROWN BREWING CORP., FORT WAYNE, IND." Reference documentation notes that distinctions between closely related catalog entries for this release remain subtle, with the can's back face displayed here.

The Old Crown brand emerged as a central pillar of the brewery's portfolio following the repeal of Prohibition. Old Crown Ale was introduced in 1939 and rapidly grew into one of the top-selling ales in the state of Indiana. Backed by assertive regional advertising campaigns that emphasized heritage and careful aging, Old Crown Ale maintained steady sales across taverns and retail shops throughout the Midwest. The brand persisted as the company's signature offering for decades before production rights transferred to Chicago's Peter Hand Brewing Company in the 1970s.

The brewery traced its origins to 1862, when French immigrant Charles Louis Centlivre established the French Brewery along Spy Run Avenue and the St. Joseph River. Following a major fire in 1889, the modern facility was reconstructed and operated for decades by successive generations of the Centlivre and Reuss families. The firm endured Prohibition by manufacturing ice, providing cold storage, and producing non-alcoholic malt beverages before legally reopening under the Centlivre name in 1933. In 1961, the company became employee-owned and officially changed its corporate identity to Old Crown Brewing Corp. Increased competition from national brewing conglomerates eventually forced the independent brewery to close its doors in December 1973.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can provides a physical link to the twilight years of northern Indiana's historic regional brewing industry. The zip top format captures the period of mid-century packaging transitions just prior to mass brewery consolidations, making it an essential target for collectors of Indiana beer artifacts and classic post-war ale cans.