Olde Frothingslosh Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Olde Frothingslosh Office Can

This crimped steel container represents one of Pittsburgh Brewing Company's humorous releases from the late 1970s era, distinguished by its inclusion of metric measurements alongside customary fluid ounces. The face of the can spotlights the brand's satirical mascot centered inside a light blue circular border layered atop a prominent purple five-pointed star. Grounding the graphic are silhouettes of workers seated at desks in an office environment, accompanied by narrative text continuing her fictional exploits. Running across the upper rim is the brand's unmistakable trademark phrasing hailing it as the beer with the foam on the bottom. Official catalog records document this version with a stay-top lid, noting that while a pull-tab variation was previously suspected to exist, it remains undocumented.

Olde Frothingslosh originated not in a brewhouse, but on the radio dial. In the mid-1950s, Pittsburgh morning show host Rege Cordic invented the bogus brew for his on-air comedy routines, pitching it as "the pale stale ale with the foam on the bottom". When listeners flooded local taverns seeking the fictional product, Pittsburgh Brewing Company collaborated with Cordic to package real beer under novelty holiday labels beginning in 1955. By the late 1960s, the company elevated the promotion by introducing "Miss Frothingslosh," portrayed by Rochester entertainer Marsha Phillips. Her colorful persona and tongue-in-cheek beauty queen biography became an annual tradition.

Pittsburgh Brewing Company trace their lineage to 1861, when German immigrant Edward Frauenheim established the Iron City Brewery in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville district. In 1899, the operation merged with several local competitors to create the region's largest brewing enterprise. The brewery endured Prohibition by producing soft drinks, near-beer, and dairy products under a food subsidiary before resuming brewing upon repeal. Nationally renowned for packaging pioneering, the brewery introduced the snap-tab beer can to the consumer market in the early 1960s.

Olde Frothingslosh occupies an esteemed niche among breweriana enthusiasts, even inspiring the founding of a dedicated regional collectors' chapter. Because Pittsburgh Brewing issued new spoof labels across consecutive holiday seasons, piecing together the timeline of Miss Frothingslosh designs and their subtle lid transitions remains a perennial favorite among can historians.