Schlitz Beer Test Can

1968 Schlitz Straight Steel Test Can

This twelve-ounce straight steel tab top container represents an experimental test design produced for the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Bearing a visible copyright date of 1968 along the lower rim alongside the statement "CONTENTS 12 FLUID OUNCES," the can showcases the brand's mid-century aesthetic. The face displays the slanted Schlitz rhomboid label framed below the classic globe emblem with decorative scrollwork, positioned above the long-running script slogan, "The Beer that made Milwaukee Famous".

Schlitz emerged as one of the quintessential American mass-market lager brands of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The brand captured national recognition in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when the brewery shipped beer and drinking water to the devastated city, helping establish its widespread distribution network. Throughout the twentieth century, aggressive advertising propelled the label forward through famous campaigns asserting "Real gusto in a great light beer" and "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer". By mid-century, Schlitz consistently challenged for the title of the nation's top-selling brew.

The Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company traced its origins to 1849, when August Krug established a small brewery and restaurant in Milwaukee. Joseph Schlitz, who had worked as Krug's bookkeeper, took over operations following Krug's death in 1856, eventually marrying Krug's widow and renaming the enterprise. After Schlitz was lost at sea in 1875, management passed to the Uihlein family, under whose leadership the firm grew into an industrial powerhouse. The business survived Prohibition by marketing non-alcoholic beverages and malt syrups, resuming rapid growth in the post-war era. Production issues and intense market competition in the 1970s eventually led to the sale of the company's assets to the Stroh Brewery Company in 1982, with brand rights later transferring to Pabst.

For breweriana enthusiasts, test cans represent a fascinating specialty area. These trial packages document the developmental phases behind major beverage lines, capturing subtle variations in layout, metallurgy, and graphics before large-scale commercial runs were finalized.