Schmidt Extra Special Beer 12 Oz Zip/Tab Top Can

Schmidt Extra Special 12-Oz Can

Manufactured as a straight steel 12-ounce can during the 1960s self-opening era, this Schmidt Extra Special container features the brand's red shield emblem over bold black lettering. Running along the bottom skirt is the brewery's familiar regional slogan, "...that Grew with the Great Northwest." While this specific can is equipped with a zip-style opening, collector records also document examples produced with tab tops, reflecting the rapid transition between pull-tab innovations during this period.

Schmidt Extra Special was marketed across the Upper Midwest as a robust regional lager tailored to outdoor-loving drinkers. The Schmidt brand built widespread recognition through campaigns celebrating North Woods sporting traditions, hunting, and fishing. Paired with advertising themes that emphasized its homegrown heritage in the Northwest, the brand maintained strong local loyalty across Minnesota and neighboring states before shifting market dynamics and corporate acquisitions altered its place on store shelves.

The brewing lineage behind this can dates back to 1855 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, when Christopher Stahlmann established the Cave Brewery, named for the extensive underground limestone caves used to lager beer. Master brewer Jacob Schmidt took over the property around 1900, establishing the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company as one of the leading producers in the Twin Cities. The brewery endured Prohibition by producing cereal beverages and resumed full brewing operations upon repeal in 1933. In the post-war era, the brewery merged into the Pfeiffer network and eventually operated as Associated Brewing Company doing business as Jacob Schmidt. Associated operated regional plants across the Midwest until selling its brewing properties to the G. Heileman Brewing Company in 1972.

For breweriana collectors, Schmidt containers produced under Associated Brewing represent a distinct chapter in Upper Midwestern beer history. Cans displaying both zip top and tab top variations offer rich context for those specializing in Saint Paul brewing legacy and the evolving can manufacturing formats of the mid-twentieth century.