Regal Famous Premium Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Dubuque's Revival of Regal Beer

Produced during the 1970s, this twelve-ounce straight steel tab-top can represents a distinctive chapter in post-prohibition regional packaging. The can showcases a white background filled with a repeating pattern of small golden crowns, crowned by a prominent shield emblem and a bold red banner bearing the white Regal nameplate. Along the bottom rim, the mandatory brewery text identifies the manufacturer as Jos. S. Pickett & Sons of Dubuque, Iowa, specifically including the city's postal zip code. While this documented version was manufactured with a tab top, catalog records also note the existence of a smooth-top variation.

The Brand

The Regal moniker possesses deep roots in American brewing history, originating as the premier flagship label of the American Brewing Company in New Orleans, Louisiana. Widely popularized throughout the Gulf Coast with lively mid-century marketing campaigns celebrating "That Regal Feeling," the label became famous for its jaunty cavalier mascot. That mustachioed figure in a plumed hat and collar, seen raising a bottle in salute, remains prominently framed within the heraldic shield above the red band. After the New Orleans brewery ceased operations in the 1960s, rights to the brand passed to G. Heileman Brewing Company, which subsequently transferred the label to Joseph S. Pickett & Sons so it could continue regional production.

The Brewery

The can was produced by Joseph S. Pickett & Sons, based in the historic brewery originally founded in 1898 along the Mississippi River as the Dubuque Star Brewing Company. Dubuque Star had persevered through Prohibition by manufacturing near-beer and soft drinks, yet by the late 1960s it struggled to stay afloat amid aggressive national industry consolidation. In 1971, veteran brewmaster Joseph S. Pickett Sr. purchased the facility and embarked on a major plant modernization. To maintain production volume, Pickett acquired several well-known legacy labels from larger competitors, brewing and canning them alongside local house labels. The Pickett family ran the operation until selling to new ownership in the early 1980s.

Collecting Context

For breweriana collectors, this can sits at an appealing intersection of regional collecting niches. It holds substantial crossover value, attracting enthusiasts of Iowa and Mississippi Valley brewing history as well as Southern collectors dedicated to tracking the second life of New Orleans' classic trademarks.