Van Merritt Beer Flat Top Can

Van Merritt Beer Flat Top Can

This 12-ounce flat top can dates to the mid-1950s and highlights one of the most distinctive graphic packages of the post-Prohibition era. Encircled by a bold green oval border proclaiming "The World's Most Honored Beer" and "Brewed With Artesian Well Water," the front panel showcases a detailed Dutch windmill standing behind a vibrant garden of tulips. Accompanying text boasts of an "Old World Formula, Originated in 1433 and Improved Through the Centuries," alongside branch offices listed in Amsterdam, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Mandatory side text specifies that the can was filled by the Van Merritt Brewing Company in Joliet, Illinois.

Originally conceived in the late 1930s by Wisconsin's Burlington Brewing Company, Van Merritt was positioned as an elite, luxury lager designed to compete directly with high-priced European imports. National advertising heavily promoted its supposed centuries-old pedigree, fine ingredients, and artesian well brewing. Over the following decades, rights to the brand moved between Midwestern brewing interests, but the label consistently retained its Old World Dutch imagery and aristocratic prestige.

Manufacturing of this particular can belongs to a storied brewing facility in Joliet, Illinois. The plant originated in 1904 as the Citizens Brewing Company, soon operating as the Joliet Citizens Brewing Company until national Prohibition halted commercial operations. After reopening in 1933 following repeal, it operated into the post-war years before being reorganized as the Bohemian Brewing Company in 1948. In the 1950s, under the ownership of Chicago businessman Joseph Fusco, the plant operated under the trade name Van Merritt Brewing Company. In 1958, Fusco acquired Chicago's Monarch Brewing Company and consolidated production there, permanently shuttering the Joliet brewery and shifting canning operations to Chicago until the brand finally disappeared in the late 1960s.

For breweriana enthusiasts, this can holds strong appeal as a relic of mid-century Illinois brewing. Cans produced during the Joliet chapter of Van Merritt are especially notable because the facility operated under that trade banner for only a few short years. Collectors prize the vivid windmill pictorials, colorful lithography, and variations in panel text and ink shades that reflect regional canning runs from the twilight of Joliet's brewing industry.