Rainier Beer Flat Top Can

Rainier Flat Top Can History

Produced by Sicks' Seattle Brewing & Malting Co. in Seattle, Washington, the Rainier Beer flat top can holds a prominent place in Pacific Northwest breweriana. Issued during the leadership era of brewing magnate Emil Sick, this container represents a standout chapter in regional commercial art and packaging history.

The Illustrated Series

Beyond standard label releases featuring bold script and Mount Rainier imagery, the brewery produced celebrated decorative issues commonly referred to by collectors as the Jubilee and Party series. These illustrated cans featured mid-century artwork depicting outdoor recreation, social gatherings, Northwest scenery, and regional folklore figures like Paul Bunyan. The brewery paired these vignettes with diverse metallic background tones, rim text layouts, and side-panel slogans such as "Rainier for Life".

The Seattle Wind Tunnel Discovery

Rainier flat top cans achieved major newsworthiness in breweriana lore through what collectors call the "Seattle wind tunnel find". A massive, forgotten cache of Rainier cans was discovered inside a decommissioned Seattle aeronautical wind tunnel facility. This discovery brought thousands of cans to the collecting community, dramatically expanding the documented history of the brewery's lithography and decorative releases.

Collector Variations

Cans bearing the Sicks' Seattle Brewing & Malting mandatory text are studied extensively by collectors for manufacturing differences. Variations exist across can manufacturer plant codes, side-seam construction styles, metallic colorways, and subtle shifts in mandatory legal phrasing.