Red Fox Premium Beer Cone Top Can

Red Fox Premium Beer Cone Top

This 12-ounce high-profile cone top represents a 1940s bottling of Red Fox Premium Beer, distinguished by the tax statement stamped along its top rim indicating it was withdrawn free of internal revenue tax. This mandatory wording designates that the beer was prepared for tax-exempt distribution, such as military rations during World War II or offshore export, rather than standard domestic retail channels. The can utilizes soldered three-piece steel construction topped with a crowned cone spout.

The Red Fox brand was introduced following the repeal of Prohibition, serving as the flagship label for its Connecticut brewer. The packaging is instantly recognized by its illustrated mascot: an anthropomorphic red fox dressed in a formal red coat, bow tie, and blue trousers, stepping forward while balancing a serving tray with two foaming glasses of beer. Marketed across southern New England as a quality regional offering, the Red Fox line encompassed both ales and lagers. After the original manufacturing facility closed, the popular Red Fox brand name and recipe were purchased by other brewing interests, who continued packaging the brand into the 1950s.

The Largay Brewing Company was founded in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1933 by George Largay. The business operated out of the former Hellmann Brewing Company plant, which had sat dormant since the onset of Prohibition. As the leading local brewery in Waterbury throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Largay distributed its products widely throughout the Northeast. However, fierce postwar competition from major national shipping breweries and rising supply costs led Largay Brewing Company to cease operations in 1947.

For breweriana collectors, cone tops bearing wartime "Withdrawn Free" markings represent a fascinating intersection of industrial packaging and mid-century military history. The combination of regional Connecticut brewing heritage and classic character mascot artwork makes this can an enduring favorite among vintage beer container enthusiasts.