Shop Rite Pilsner Beer 12 Oz Tab Top Can

Shop Rite Pilsner Tab Top Beer Can

The Shop Rite Pilsner Beer 12-ounce tab top can is a straight steel container produced during the 1970s. Its design is distinguished by a repeating background motif of circular gold Shop-Rite shopping cart emblems overlaid by a bold red horizontal band containing "Pilsner" script and prominent "Beer" lettering. The lower portion indicates the volume alongside a Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode, reflecting the era's shift toward computerized retail inventory scanning.

The Brand

Shop-Rite originated in the 1940s when a cooperative of independent grocers formed Wakefern Food Corp. in the northeastern United States. To compete with national supermarket chains, the cooperative introduced private-label store brands that provided budget-conscious shoppers with lower-priced alternatives for everyday goods. Shop Rite Pilsner was marketed directly through these cooperative supermarkets across the Mid-Atlantic region as an economical house-brand lager.

The Brewery

While the label credits the Old Dutch Brewing Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania, this entity operated as an alternate trade name for the Horlacher Brewing Company. Originally organized in the late 19th century as the Allentown Brewing Company, the firm adopted the Horlacher name in 1902. The company navigated Prohibition by turning to soft drinks, distilled water, and near-beer before resuming full brewing operations in 1933. During the postwar era, intense competition and industry consolidation pressured regional breweries to diversify into contract brewing. Horlacher adapted by producing private labels and store brands under several d/b/a names, including Old Dutch, until the Allentown plant ceased operations in 1978.

Collecting Context

Private-label and supermarket beer cans occupy a popular segment in breweriana collecting. These cans document the historical relationships between regional contract breweries and major grocery cooperatives, offering collectors tangible artifacts of mid-to-late 20th-century retail and industrial brewing history.