Weber Waukesha Beer Cone Top Can

Weber Waukesha Beer Cone Top

This twelve-ounce high-profile cone top can represents mid-century packaging produced for the Weber Waukesha Brewing Company of Waukesha, Wisconsin. The container features Continental Can Company construction and dates to the post–Internal Revenue Tax Paid era of the early 1950s. Visually, the design is anchored by an illustrated Native American figure in a full feathered headdress leaning forward to dip a vessel into flowing spring water. Framed by rich forest green bands along the top and bottom rims, the central label showcases the brand name rendered in bold, shadowed red typography above stylized green and red script lettering.

The Brand

Weber Waukesha was marketed extensively around the natural mineral spring water of Waukesha, a city renowned in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a health resort destination. Promoting its beer with slogans highlighting its use of local spring water, the company established a devoted regional following across Wisconsin and neighboring Midwestern states. The Native American spring motif served as the centerpiece of the company's trademark imagery across signs, glassware, and packaging.

The Brewery

The brewery's origins trace to the 1850s when Henry Meyer established brewing operations in Waukesha. In 1862, Bavarian immigrant Stephen Weber purchased the plant, operating it as the Bethesda Brewery and later the West Hill Brewery before officially incorporating under the family name. During Prohibition, the enterprise adapted by operating as the Waukesha Dairy Company, bottling milk products to keep facilities intact. Following the repeal of Prohibition, the company reorganized as the Weber Waukesha Brewing Company in 1934, modernizing its plant with an early all-stainless steel brew kettle. The Weber family operated the brewery until 1958, when escalating competition prompted a merger with nearby competitor Fox Head Brewing Company, which subsequently shuttered the historic Weber facility.

Collecting Context

Mid-century Wisconsin breweriana remains a popular pursuit among can collectors, with cone tops from regional independent breweries enjoying strong interest. The Weber Waukesha cone top is admired in the hobby for its classic mid-century lithography and regional narrative tied to Waukesha's historic spring water heritage.