Webber's Old Lager Beer Cone Top Can

Webber's Old Lager Cone Top Can

This twelve-ounce cone top can represents the post–World War II canning era of East Liverpool, Ohio. Manufactured in Continental Can Company's cap-sealed cone format, the can features a clean white face framed by olive-gold bands at the rim and base. Flanked by stylized ears of barley, the label highlights the prominent promotional declaration, "Made from 100% Grain," printed in flowing script beneath bold red and gold typography. As cataloged, this exact variant is distinguished by having no alcohol statement, denoting distribution in territories that did not require mandatory alcohol percentage declarations.

Webber's Old Lager served as the flagship lager brand for the brewery following the repeal of Prohibition. Named after brewery leadership, it stood alongside Bulldog Ale as the plant's primary offering. In an era when many expanding post-war commercial brewers turned to cheaper adjuncts, Webber's leaned heavily into traditional brewing principles, making its all-grain mash bill central to its packaging and local advertising. Despite loyal local patronage throughout Columbiana County and the Upper Ohio Valley, the brand was retired when operations collapsed in the early 1950s.

The plant was founded in 1900 as The Crockery City Brewing Company, borrowing its name from East Liverpool's fame as the ceramics and pottery capital of the nation. During statewide and federal Prohibition, the company pivoted by reorganizing as The Crockery City Ice and Products Company, delivering ice, dairy items, soft drinks, and near beer. Following repeal in 1933, Ambrose E. Webber and his son Leonard revived commercial brewing. In 1946, an outside investor syndicate acquired the brewing operations and renamed the business The Webb Corporation. The new owners modernized the facility and initiated cone top canning in the spring of 1949. However, fierce postwar competition from major national shipping breweries forced the company into bankruptcy in late 1951, leading to permanent closure in early 1952.

For breweriana collectors, this can holds special significance as a direct artifact of East Liverpool's industrial past. Containers from The Webb Corporation represent the twilight era of small-scale Ohio Valley regional brewing, making examples of this cone top a celebrated centerpiece for Ohio collectors and enthusiasts of mid-century packaging.