Richbrau Premium Beer Flat Top Can

Richbrau Premium Beer Flat Top

Dating to the 1950s, this 12-ounce flat top represents a classic design from Richmond, Virginia's Home Brewing Company, Inc. The label is rendered on a yellow-gold metallic background accented with black filigree scrollwork. The artwork frames two black shield plaques reading "DRINK" and "Beer," split across a prominent red center band displaying the "Richbrau" brand name in stylized gothic lettering. The lower margin provides the required statement noting that it was brewed and packaged in Richmond.

The Brand

Following the repeal of Prohibition, Home Brewing Company introduced the Richbrau name in 1933–1934. Marketed unapologetically as Richmond’s hometown beverage, Richbrau established itself as the city’s quintessential regional lager. The brewery positioned the brand to appeal directly to local pride, maintaining a strong regional presence across taverns and markets throughout Virginia. Although Home Brewing Company ceased independent brewing in the late 1960s, Richbrau's local legacy proved enduring, eventually inspiring revivals in the Virginia craft brewing movement decades later.

The Brewery

Home Brewing Company was established in 1897 by Peter Stumpf on Clay Street, building on a history of earlier post-Civil War brewing enterprises on the site. When Virginia enacted statewide prohibition in 1916—years before national Prohibition took effect—the business transitioned to producing soft drinks. With Repeal in 1933, the brewery resumed beer production and modernized its plant. In a historic irony, Richmond had been the test market for the first commercially canned beer in 1935, yet Home Brewing Company waited until 1952 before finally installing canning equipment. Facing intense consolidation and competition from national macro-breweries, the company finally closed its doors in December 1969.

Collecting Context

Richbrau cans from the Home Brewing Company are essential cornerstones for Mid-Atlantic and Virginia breweriana collections. Because Richmond holds an important role in beer packaging history, flat tops from the city's sole long-standing native brewery after Prohibition remain highly sought-after artifacts of regional industrial heritage.