Can, Beer
Object number2017.94.25
Manufacturer
Fort Pitt Brewing Company
(1906 - 1957)
Date1930-1957
OriginPittsburgh, PA
MediumMetal; Paint
Credit LineGift of Robert Thomas
DescriptionCrown top beer can. Mottled gray metal cylindrical can with one seam. Body has rolled top and bottom edge. Short slanted shoulder leads circular mouth with rolled rim. Painted (lithographed?) label on body has red background with ornate gold scrollwork. Appearing twice on body is beer label comprised of white background with gold perimeter banner bearing black text; black, gold, and red beer brand name at center with Fort Pitt Block House logo above; flanking the logo are white banners with black text with hops behind. Concave underside.DimensionsHeight x Diameter: 5.625 × 2.75 in. (14.3 × 7 cm)InscriptionsLabel's gold perimeter banner has black text at top "CONTENTS 12 FLUID OUNCES" and at bottom "FORT PITT BREWING CO., PITTSBURGH 15, PA."
Label has black text on banners flanking Fort Pitt Block House logo: "CHOICEST MALT" on the left banner and "FINEST HOPS" on the right banner.
Label's center has black, gold, and red text "Fort Pitt / Special / BEER".
Historical NotesFort Pitt Beer crown top beer can. Part of a collection of Fort Pitt Brewing Company artifacts that was collected by donor Robert Thomas to document the time his family ran the company (1930s through the 1950s). The donor’s great uncle, Michael Berardino, became president of Fort Pitt Brewing Company two years after one of the original owners and founder, Samuel Grenet, died suddenly in 1935. Grenet had started the business in 1906 with Herman Hechelman. They built a brewery in the suburb of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, survived Prohibition and were set to be the number one brewery in the state when Grenet passed. Berardino began an aggressive sales campaign to turn the company around after lagging sales the year before. The company also bought the Victor Brewing Company of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, but continued to produce their signature Old Shay beer. In the early 1950s due to local strikes and an increase in national brand popularity, Fort Pitt struggled. After Berardino died in 1957, the company stopped brewing at the Sharpsburg plant and expanded into other products and became the newly incorporated Fort Pitt Industries. The rights to the brand were sold to Gunther Brewing of Baltimore. In 2010, the Fort Pitt name was purchased by Mark Dudash who began producing Fort Pitt Ale.
Related person
Michael Berardino
(died 1957)
Collector
Robert M. Thomas
On View
Not on view
1930-1957
1930-1957
