Old Milwaukee Draft Test Can

Old Milwaukee 16 oz Draft Test Can

This 16-ounce aluminum tab-top container represents an early 1970s test design produced for the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company. Bearing a 1973 copyright along the lower rim, the one-pint can reflects Schlitz's multi-plant production network by identifying six brewery locations: Longview, Los Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee, Tampa, and Winston-Salem. The label incorporates a prominent heraldic crest identifying the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company alongside a detailed damask pattern framing the brand lettering.

Schlitz originally introduced the Old Milwaukee label to provide an affordable, popular-priced offering alongside its flagship premium lager. After being revived in the mid-1950s, Old Milwaukee was aggressively expanded into national distribution. Marketed throughout the 1960s and 1970s with campaigns celebrating working-class camaraderie and famous slogans such as "Taste as Great as Its Name," the brand grew into one of the top-selling economy beers in the United States before eventually joining the Pabst Brewing Company portfolio.

The Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company originated in 1849 when August Krug established a small brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Following Krug's death, bookkeeper Joseph Schlitz took over management, and the brewery experienced rapid growth after sending shipments of beer to Chicago in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Famed for the slogan "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous," Schlitz rose to become one of the largest brewing operations in the world during the twentieth century, constructing modern satellite plants across the country, including the Tampa, Florida facility. Following formula modifications and packaging shifts in the late 1970s that damaged brand equity, the business was acquired by the Stroh Brewery Company in 1982.

Among breweriana enthusiasts, 16-ounce tall boys and test cans from the tab-top era are prized for illustrating how major brewing conglomerates developed regional packaging and tested market reception across different production facilities.