Malt Lager Discussion Thread

[idigrust]

Please post additions and comments here.

[Scott Rollert]

Thanks go out to Henry Porter for this composite list. It contains mostly 12 oz. flats and tabs that have Malt Lager on the can. He grew up in the midwest, where these cans are prevalent & not too hard to obtain. HIs Malt Lager collection is growing with the addition of the odd sized cans.

Post your comments and additions (preferably with pics) here. Once verified, they'll be added to the master list. Check the updates & additions topic to see what's been added.

[Wheaton]

This is a great composite idea. Thanks for stepping up. This one will be a lot of fun for guys to help flesh out where the odd sizers are concerned - the Country Club Malt Lagers by themselves are crazymaking!

[Scott Rollert]

I went through my collection and culled the few Malt Lager cans I have to add to the composite list. Starting with USBC 239-11, 8 oz. Bulldog flat. American Can Keglined oval, plant no. under rust.

Big Cat flat & tab. Flat is not listed, tab is USBC II 39-29. Both cans are paintovers, under Black Label 8 city map backs from Bellville IL. I guess, technically, the flat isn't a real Malt Lager example since it was sold off the shelf as Black Label. But I thought I'd throw it in as well. True can code under top label.

Grenay tab, USBC II 71-29. Large Continental Can logo with no number.

The Lone Malt Lager from Colorado. USBC 115-31. Continental Can 29.

[henry porter]

Well, I apologize for letting this slide. I thought I had updated with Scott's drool-worthy additions but I guess not.

I went through the reference books I have (BCU, Bible, Class, MN & Chicago), and added all the Malt Lagers I found. I'm sure there are many variations that have been overlooked, especially Country Club and Schlitz. The list includes a total of 52, of which I have 27. Of course, I don't have most of the tough ones, but someday.

Questions:

Is there a 16oz Big Cat?

Are there any 11 or 15oz Malt Lagers?

The lone crimped steel I found was a Schlitz. Are there any others?

If you have a variation not listed, please let me know so I can add it.

[Scott Rollert]

The master list update submitted by Henry is now posted.

[Wheaton]

Well, I apologize for letting this slide. I thought I had updated with Scott's drool-worthy additions but I guess not.

I went through the reference books I have (BCU, Bible, Class, MN & Chicago), and added all the Malt Lagers I found. I'm sure there are many variations that have been overlooked, especially Country Club and Schlitz. The list includes a total of 52, of which I have 27. Of course, I don't have most of the tough ones, but someday.

Questions:

Is there a 16oz Big Cat?

Are there any 11 or 15oz Malt Lagers?

The lone crimped steel I found was a Schlitz. Are there any others?

If you have a variation not listed, please let me know so I can add it.

I didn't catch this question last time through, and although it's been a year, I may as well take a stab at it.

Regarding your question about 11 and 15oz Malt Lagers, I don't believe any such thing has ever been documented. To my understanding, the Malt Lager verbiage (as opposed to Malt Liquor) had something to do with a Virginia law that forbade the use of the term "Liquor" on malt beverage containers; commensurately, the majority of Malt Lagers were sold in Virginia. They've also been dumped in North Carolina, though I don't have first hand knowledge of whether those were travelers or whether they may have been marketed in NC.

11s and 15s being [almost] exclusively Western phenomena, it seems unlikely we'll ever see any as Malt Lagers. I spent several years chasing 14oz cans and had the question posed to me about 14oz Malt Lagers, also, but I never saw any at all. The only two traditional Malt Liquor brands ever packaged in 14s were Colt 45 and Schlitz, and although this can size was marketed to some limited degree in Virginia, those two brands appear to have been absent as 14s. But 8s, 12s, and 16s: yes.

[henry porter]

I didn't catch this question last time through, and although it's been a year, I may as well take a stab at it.

Regarding your question about 11 and 15oz Malt Lagers, I don't believe any such thing has ever been documented. To my understanding, the Malt Lager verbiage (as opposed to Malt Liquor) had something to do with a Virginia law that forbade the use of the term "Liquor" on malt beverage containers; commensurately, the majority of Malt Lagers were sold in Virginia. They've also been dumped in North Carolina, though I don't have first hand knowledge of whether those were travelers or whether they may have been marketed in NC.

11s and 15s being [almost] exclusively Western phenomena, it seems unlikely we'll ever see any as Malt Lagers. I spent several years chasing 14oz cans and had the question posed to me about 14oz Malt Lagers, also, but I never saw any at all. The only two traditional Malt Liquor brands ever packaged in 14s were Colt 45 and Schlitz, and although this can size was marketed to some limited degree in Virginia, those two brands appear to have been absent as 14s. But 8s, 12s, and 16s: yes.

Seems likely that if a 14oz existed someone would have turned one up by now.

Thanks to Storzman, I now have 4 more nice 16oz -- the harder (MUCH) Country Club, and my first 3 Schlitz, including one unlisted. Makes me wonder how many more variations are waiting to be found.

New spreadsheet is ready. It's now up to 75 entries, of which I have 42 -- well, 41 with one flat sheet. I'm at a loss as to how to put pics into the sheet without making it unreadable, but I have pics of all the ones I have.

As far as locales, as far as I can tell, it's VA and NC. BUT, I have a Schlitz crimped steel that has a SC stamp on the bottom. It's air-sealed, though, so maybe never sold there. Interestingly, all the flats I have that have legible tax stamps are from VA.

Does anyone have any documentation about this? I've heard the story as you relay it, but I can find ZERO info about these laws, like when they were enacted, what they covered, when they were repealed, etc. Pretty clearly there were such laws, since brewers went to the expense to produce these Malt Lager cans and labels. Does anyone have any input on this that includes hard documentation?