Old Dutch Brand Beer Cone Top Can

Aztec's Old Dutch Cone Top

The Old Dutch Brand Beer Cone Top Can was produced by the Aztec Brewing Company of San Diego, California. Aztec Brewing Company, which re-established operations in San Diego following the repeal of Prohibition, was widely known throughout the West Coast for brands such as ABC Beer, Associated Lager, and its Old Dutch product line.

Label Design & Imagery

The can features an ornate design centered on an oval portrait reminiscent of Frans Hals' The Laughing Cavalier, depicting a smiling seventeenth-century Dutch gentleman in traditional period dress, complete with a wide-brimmed black hat, mustache, and a prominent white lace ruff collar. This medallion is framed with intricate gold-toned scrollwork and filigree against a contrasting field.

Beneath the portrait, the brand name is rendered in stylized Gothic lettering reading "Old Dutch" over "Brand Beer." Along the bottom edge, the brewery credit is boldly marked as "AZTEC BREWING CO., SAN DIEGO, CALIF."

Historical Context

This low-profile cone top includes the mandatory Internal Revenue Tax Paid (IRTP) statement, placing its production within the period between the legalization of canned beer in 1935 and the removal of federal IRTP requirements in 1950. In addition to this beer, Aztec Brewing Co. distributed a companion cone top under the Old Dutch Brand Ale name.