Rhinelander Export Beer Flat Top Can

Rhinelander Export Flat Top

Circulated during the late 1950s and early 1960s, this 12-ounce flat top can represents the post-Prohibition canned packaging era for the Rhinelander Brewing Company of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. The can stands out for its mottled, crystalline metallic background finish paired with outdoor imagery that immediately evokes northern lake country. Running along the upper rim is the territorial slogan "FROM THE HEART O' LAKES," while the base displays the brewery's trademark phrase "REFRESHING AS THE NORTH WOODS," set against a silhouette band of deep-green evergreen pine trees.

Rhinelander Export served as the brewery's flagship lager, formulated to compete with expanding regional shipping breweries across the Upper Midwest. Capitalizing on the region's identity as a prime hunting, fishing, and summer retreat, the company tied the Export brand directly to the Northwoods outdoors. Marketing campaigns leaned heavily into wilderness imagery, at times even packing vacation flyers into retail beer cases. While the brewery gained national distinction in 1940 with its stubby seven-ounce "Shorty" bottle, 12-ounce flat tops catered to campers and sportsmen requiring durable packaging. Following the plant's eventual closure, the brand survived when the Joseph Huber Brewing Company of Monroe, Wisconsin, acquired the recipes and labels, keeping Rhinelander Export in distribution for decades before the trademark returned home in the modern craft brewing revival.

The original brewery was founded in 1882 by Otto Hilgermann and Henry Danner near the Pelican River. After an 1897 fire destroyed the original facility, it was rebuilt, only to shutter when national Prohibition arrived in 1920. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Otto’s son, George Hilgermann, reacquired the plant, modernized its equipment, and resumed brewing. Although annual capacity eventually peaked near 40,000 barrels, the regional operation struggled to match the advertising reach and low pricing of national brewing giants during the postwar wave of industry consolidation. In 1967, mounting financial debt forced the Rhinelander facility to close for good, ending with federal tax agents supervising the dumping of the brewery's final barrels into the municipal sewer.

Within breweriana collecting, this flat top is sought after as a premier example of mid-century Northwoods scenic can art. The evocative forestry silhouettes, metallic background, and regional lake slogans give it strong crossover appeal among collectors specializing in rustic outdoor advertising and Wisconsin brewing history.