Old German Style Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Old German Style Beer Can History

The Old German Style Beer 12-ounce tab top can represents a notable chapter in the history of the Peter Hand Brewing Company of Chicago, Illinois. Established in 1891 by Prussian immigrant and Civil War veteran Peter Hand, the brewery grew into an iconic Midwestern institution operating from North Avenue in Chicago.

During the mid-to-late twentieth century, Peter Hand Brewing Company maintained a diverse portfolio of regional offerings, including Meister Bräu, Old Chicago, and Old German Style Beer. The Old German label embraced traditional heritage imagery, featuring Germanic typography, heraldic crest elements, and bold design accents tailored for regional consumers.

A noteworthy aspect of the Peter Hand story during this era was the company's broader impact on American brewing. The brewery developed and marketed Meister Bräu Lite, an early reduced-calorie product. When the company faced financial shifts, it sold its flagship trademarks and light beer recipe to the Miller Brewing Company, which reformulated the product into Miller Lite, permanently reshaping the nationwide beer market.

Following corporate reorganizations and briefly operating under the name Meister Brau, Inc., the Peter Hand plant closed in the late 1970s, marking the end of the last traditional commercial brewing facility in Chicago until modern microbreweries appeared.

For breweriana collectors, Old German Style Beer cans remain popular regional artifacts. Known variations exist across different manufacturing runs, showcasing subtle differences in canning plant markings, mandatory brewery text, and graphic alignments.