Pabst Export Beer Flat Top Can

Pabst Export Beer Flat Top Can

Dating to the mid-1930s shortly after the commercial debut of canned beer, this 12-ounce container was produced for the Premier-Pabst Corporation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As an early canned release from the brewer, this variation is cataloged with opening instructions corresponding to Lilek reference 641. Rather than displaying mandatory Internal Revenue tax text along the side seam or body, this can carries its tax statement stamped directly onto the top lid. The face displays "12 FL. OZ. / SAME AS BOTTLE" in the upper-left margin to reassure consumers accustomed to standard glass packaging, while "COOL BEFORE SERVING" is printed along the bottom edge below the bold "BEER" lettering. Centered between the script Pabst brand name and the bold "EXPORT" text is the classic circular emblem reading "PABST MILWAUKEE" around a hop cone insignia. Conspicuously absent from this early face design is the trademarked "TapaCan" logo that appeared on many later issues.

Pabst Export Beer was a cornerstone label for the firm, carrying the legacy of the Milwaukee lager that brought the company national fame during the late nineteenth century. The brewery originally gained renown for tying blue silk ribbons around its select export bottles, an honor formalized under the Blue Ribbon moniker after the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Following the repeal of Prohibition, Premier-Pabst promoted its packaged beers with modern convenience messaging, emphasizing that canned beer chilled rapidly and preserved brewery-fresh taste. Over time, the Export brand was gradually integrated into the brewer's overarching Pabst Blue Ribbon flagship lineup.

The brewery traces its roots to 1844, when Jacob Best and his sons founded the Empire Brewery in Milwaukee. After steamship captain Frederick Pabst married into the family, he assumed leadership and renamed the enterprise the Pabst Brewing Company in 1889, rapidly turning it into America's largest brewing operation by volume. During Prohibition, the business adapted by manufacturing non-alcoholic malt extracts, cheese, and soft drinks. In 1932, it merged with the Premier Malt Products Company of Peoria, operating under the Premier-Pabst corporate banner before officially restoring the classic Pabst Brewing Company name in 1938.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can holds historical importance as an early example of flat top packaging technology. Opening instruction cans produced under the short-lived Premier-Pabst corporate imprint remain central pieces for collectors documenting the pioneer era of American canned beer.