The beer was around long before there was an El Rey Club. It was, however the inspiration for the name of the original club, which was in South gate, CA. It was a favorite beer of Tony Martello and the other Martello brothers and they liked that it means "The King." When Willie moved to Searchlight and opened his club it may or may not have already been called the El Rey Club. Buddy and Albert Martello were already there and may have named the club first. However most reports state that Buddy and Albert bought the building and were gearing up for the opening of a casino and that Willie chose the name. It's all covered in the early pages of this GREAT book I saw called The king of Casinos. lol

incidentally, I have one of those cans, a glass El Rey Beer bottle, a different style of El Rey beer can, a matchbook from the El Rey brewery, and several labels. All of which will be on display at my exhibit during the BIG SHOW in June!