Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Pabst Blue Ribbon Tab Top Can

The Pabst Blue Ribbon 12 oz tab top can produced by the Pabst Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, stands as one of the most recognizable artifacts of American breweriana. Pabst, founded in Milwaukee in 1844 as the Empire Brewery by Jacob Best and later renamed under the leadership of Captain Frederick Pabst, was an early pioneer in canned beer packaging and grew to become one of the nation's premier brewing giants.

The can face features the iconic Pabst Blue Ribbon emblem: a diagonal red stripe set against the classic blue ribbon graphic, honoring the brand's historic recognition at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Throughout its production, the Milwaukee plant issued cans with several variations in mandatory text, including differing multi-city brewery listings—such as Milwaukee appearing alongside facilities in Peoria Heights, Newark, Los Angeles, and Pabst, Georgia—as well as slight modifications to the company's trademark notices.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can represents a significant era of post-war graphic design and package manufacturing. Variations with different can manufacturer hallmarks along the seam, metallized finishes, and minor text shifts continue to make it a staple of Milwaukee brewing history.