Sicks' Select Brew 66 Beer Flat Top Can

Sicks' Select Brew 66 Flat Top Can

Produced in the early 1950s, this 12-ounce flat top can represents a pivotal transitional package from Sicks' Brewing Company in Salem, Oregon. The label composition centers on large, bold red numerals set against a cream-colored body, framed by rich burgundy top and bottom bands detailed with fine diagonal pinstripes. A sweeping banner bearing the "Sicks' Select" designation cuts across the numerals, accompanied by a small illustrated server figure dressed in a red jacket marching along the lower ribbon flourish.

Brew 66 was formulated around 1950 under brewmaster Bob Weingaertner to satisfy the postwar American market's growing preference for lighter-bodied lagers. Officially launched in July 1951, the brand was initially marketed in tandem with the brewery's established flagship label as "Sicks' Select Brew 66". The new recipe quickly gained traction across the Pacific Northwest, proving successful enough that the company eventually phased out the legacy Sicks' Select banner in favor of standalone Brew 66 branding.

The Salem brewing facility traced its origins to the 1860s Pacific Brewery before operating for decades as the Capital Brewery and later the Salem Brewery Association, incorporated in 1903. It grew into one of Oregon's largest brewing enterprises and managed to survive Prohibition. In 1943, brewing industrialist Emil G. Sick acquired the facility, renaming it Sicks' Brewing Company the following year to integrate it into his regional network. The Salem facility served as an active packaging hub for the Willamette Valley until June 1953, when Sick consolidated regional operations around the newly acquired Rainier label and shuttered the Salem brewery.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can holds special significance within Pacific Northwest beer history. Because the Salem plant ceased production shortly after the rollout of Brew 66, cans carrying the Salem mandatory text reflect a short, distinctive manufacturing window that makes them prized items among collectors of mid-century flat tops.