Rainier Special Export Pale Beer Flat Top Can

Sicks' Spokane Rainier Export Can

The Rainier Special Export Pale Beer flat top can is an opening-instruction steel container produced for Sicks' Spokane Brewery, Inc. in Spokane, Washington. Documented in collector reference literature under Lilek entry 703, this twelve-ounce can is distinguished within its series by the omission of the corporate phrasing "A Unit of One of the World's Great Brewing Enterprises." Visually, the design showcases the red Rainier script set above layered "Special Export" script and faint block "PALE" lettering, capped with the top banner "A Sicks' Quality Product" and anchored by a mountain landscape vignette denoting the Spokane plant.

The Rainier Brand

Originally established in the late nineteenth century in Seattle, Rainier grew to become one of the defining beer brands of the Pacific Northwest. After the repeal of Prohibition, brewing entrepreneur Emil Sick acquired the brand and revitalized it into a dominant regional power. Rainier was marketed heavily on regional pride and clean brewing traditions. The Special Export Pale Beer formulation was positioned as a crisp, premium lager, maintaining wide consumer appeal across urban and rural markets alike.

Sicks' Spokane Brewery

While Rainier's primary home was Seattle, Emil Sick expanded production by developing a regional brewing syndicate. In 1944, he acquired the Spokane brewing plant—a location with brewing heritage reaching back to the Galland-Burke operations and Spokane Breweries, Inc.—reorganizing it as Sicks' Spokane Brewery, Inc. The Spokane plant operated as an essential packaging and distribution hub for the Inland Northwest, serving Eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana until the brewery finally closed its doors in 1962.

Collecting Context

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can holds significance as a branch-plant issue that illustrates the regional distribution network of mid-century brewing enterprises. Collectors focusing on Pacific Northwest history, early flat top instructional cans, and multi-plant label differences prize this can for its clear historical connection to Spokane's brewing past.