Globe Brewing Primo Flat Top

The Primo Beer flat top can produced by the Globe Brewing Company of San Francisco, California, holds a notable place in West Coast breweriana history. Following the repeal of Prohibition, Globe Brewing operated out of the former Sansome Street plant previously occupied by the Acme Brewing Company. To utilize plant capacity, the brewery engaged in contract packaging for regional distributors, which included canning Primo Beer for the Primo Products Company.

Manufactured by the Pacific Can Company, the container represents a key era when metal beer packaging was first being adopted along the Pacific Coast. Globe filled a small portfolio of canned labels during its brief operational period in the 1930s, alongside brands such as Nu-Globe, Log Cabin, and Fort Sutter. Among the canned offerings produced at the San Francisco facility, the Primo Beer label is widely recognized by collectors as the most elusive of the group.

The can features pre-war graphic styling tailored for California distribution, prominently displaying the Primo branding alongside Globe's San Francisco mandatory text. Because the brewery ceased operations permanently after only a short run, surviving examples are exceptionally scarce. Minor variations in the mandatory text and side panel layouts exist across documented specimens. The Globe Primo flat top remains a prized historical artifact from early California canning history.