Historic Beer Birthday: Georg Schneider II

February 24, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Georg Schneider II (February 24, 1846-1890) who co-founded G. Schneider & Son along with his father Georg Schneider I in 1872. His dad leased the royal “Weisse Brauhuas’ Hofbräuhaus in Munich in 1855 and purchased from King Ludwig II the right to brew wheat beer in 1872. Georg II, along with his father acquired the so-called Maderbräu Im Tal 10” in 1872.

Both he and his father passed away in 1890, and his son, Georg III, took over the brewery even though he was barely 20 at the time, and today George VI still owns and runs the brewery.

The “Weisses Bräuhaus” in Munich, Tal (or Thal) is the founding place of their brewery. It’s the place where Georg Schneider I brewed his first Schneider Weisse Original in 1872.

“In 1927 the owners, who to this day are descendants of Georg Schneider I, expanded their brewing operations into Kelheim and Straubing. After the breweries in Munich were destroyed in 1944 by aerial bombardment by the Allies of World War II, the entire production was relocated to Kelheim.”

Beer In Ads #5127: The Stock-Up “Dozen Sale” On Meister Bräu Bock Beer

February 23, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Monday’s second ad is for Meister Bräu Bock Beer, which was published on February 23, 1940. This ad was for the Peter Hand Brewery Co. of Chicago, Illinois, which was originally founded in 1891. This ad ran in The Chicago Tribune, also of Chicago, Illinois.

Historic Beer Birthday: Gottlieb Brekle

February 23, 2026 By Jay Brooks 1 Comment

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Today is the birthday of Gottlieb Brekle [or sometimes spelled ‘Breckle’] (February 23, 1821-January 25, 1888). He was born somewhere in Germany, most likely Württemberg, though possibly Ludwigsburg or Hamburg, arriving in America on July 31, 1852, along with his wife Marie and young son Frederick. In 1871, according to Anchor, “Brekle bought an old beer-and-billiards saloon on Pacific Street near Russian Hill for $3,500, transforming it into the American brewery that, twenty-five years later, would be renamed Anchor” when it it was bought by “German brewer Ernst F. Baruth and his son-in-law, Otto Schinkel, Jr.” Given how long ago Brekle was born, not to mention all of the records lost due to the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, little is known about Brekle’s life, and I don’t know of any pictures of him. Even the spelling of his name seems uncertain, with records existing where it’s spelled Breckle, Breckel, and Breckels, too, making trying to find information a lot harder.

After Gottlieb, or George, as he took calling himself later, died, his son Frederick took over the business. Since we know the brewery was sold in 1896, we can be pretty sure Gottlieb died before then, but it could have been in 1888, or some other year, nobody seems sure. Anchor wrote on their blog, in a piece entitled Under the Crown: A Brewery is Born, which I assume was written by Anchor’s historian Dave Burkhart (who I consider a friend) that Gottlieb Brekle’s naturalization papers indicate he became a citizen in 1854, and they display a small image of those papers.

But as much as it pains me, I’m not sure that’s right. Look at the paper blown up a bit, so it’s a little easier to read.

1854-Brekle-Naturalization-Papers-zoom

From what I can make out, he was a subject of the King of Württemberg on September 21, 1861, but became a U.S. citizen August 5, 1854, which I don’t quite understand, but then some of language is hard to read. But the name on that document appears to be “Carl Gottlieb Breckles,” so I’m wondering if it may be a different person?

cal-register-1880-1

I found this document on Ancestory.com, which is a voter “Register 7th Precinct, 4th Ward, San Francisco County, 1880.” Line 34, the third from the bottom, lists a Gottlieb Brekle, age 59 (which would make his birth year 1821 if he was 59 in 1880). It also lists his occupation as “Brewer” and his address as “1431 Pacific,” in San Francisco. But more telling is that last column, which lists the date he was naturalized. And for Gottlieb, what’s listed is August 4, 1879. And more confirmation is in the line below, where it lists a Frederick Brekle, also listed as a “Brewer” and living at the same address. Since we know that was his son’s name, it seems pretty clear that this document is referring to our Gottlieb Brekle.

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The Anchor Brewery in the early 1900s.

Sadly, there isn’t much more known, though Anchor also has some more information they found in researching newspapers at the time.

Fortunately for researchers of San Francisco history, most of its early newspapers survived. In early 1874, San Francisco’s largest brewery—the Philadelphia Brewery—took out an ad in an SF paper to brag that it had sold more beer than any of SF’s other 33 breweries the previous year. Anchor, then called the Golden City Brewery, ranked 29th out of 34, with sales of just 585 barrels, the equivalent of about 8,000 cases of beer. If that seems like a lot of beer, our brewery’s sales in 1873 were just .33% (not 33%, not 3.3%, but .33% or 33/100 of 1%!) of total sales in barrels by all SF breweries!

In 2011, Anchor Brewing released a beer named after their first brewmaster, Brekle’s Brown.

Brekles-logo

And here’s a short video Anchor released at the time.

Beer Birthday: J.J. Phair

February 23, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of J.J. Phair, co-founder of E.J. Phair Brewing. J.J. started homebrewing in 1990, and ten years later opened his brewery, which is named for his grandfather Ewart John Phair, who was an amateur winemaker and beer lover, as a way to honor E.J. The brewery’s had its ups and downs (though mostly ups), and today their current location is in Alamo. Join me in wishing J.J. a very happy birthday.

P1070555 — J.J. and Craig Cauwels at the E.J. Phair brewery taproom in 2012.

J.J. at the Bay Area Beer Festival in 2006.

Beer In Ads #5126: Start Looking For Bock

February 23, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Monday’s first ad is for Potosi Bock Beer, which was published on February 23, 1949. This ad was for the Potosi Brewing Co. of Potosi, Wisconsin, which was originally founded in 1852. This ad ran in The Grant County Herald, also of Elbow Lake, Minnesota.

Historic Beer Birthday: Johann Baier

February 23, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Johann ‘John’ Baier (February 23, 1823-June 26, 1866). He was born in Gopfersgrun, Bavaria, Germany and emigrated to the U.S. sometime before 1850, settling in Baltimore, Maryland. There ee established the Johann Baier Brewery (sometimes referred to as the Johann John Baier Brewery) in 1850. He married Anna Maria Hartmann, who was born in Oberfullbach, Bavaria, and when Johan passed away in 1866, she took over the running of the brewery, and it was renamed the Anna Baier Brewery. Three years later, she brought on a partner and it was then called the Anna & Frederick Wunder Brewery. Two more name changes occurred between 1872 and 1885 — Frederick Wunder Brewery and then Mrs. Anna M. Wunder Brewery (after she remarried Frederick Wunder in 1869) — before finally becoming the brewery by which it was famously known in Baltimore for the rest of its existence: National Brewery in 1885.

This brief account is from Baltimore Magazine:

It was around this time that the original iteration of the National Brewing Company was born. It’s said that, in 1850, a Fells Point brewer by the name of Johann Baier leased the northeast corner of Conkling and O’Donnell streets, expanding up to Dillon within the next decade, on the city’s eastern hinterlands then known as Lager Beer Hill. Hand-dug cellars were the foundation of what would eventually become the largest brewery in Baltimore, a few of their brick remnants still at the current building’s base. After Baier’s death, his widow and her second husband took over operations, adding a beer garden, tavern, and stables, with barrels delivered locally by horse-drawn cart.
But by 1885, they went bankrupt, ultimately selling the business to their malt suppliers, who renamed it the National Brewing Company. Within a few years, they expanded east to Eaton Street, then merged with more than two dozen other breweries to create the Maryland Brewing Company, hoping that shared resources would help them create more affordable beer at a higher profit—an early economy of scale. Which is exactly what they did. Until Prohibition kicked the keg in 1919.

And this is from German Marylanders:

The brewery was built in 1872 at the corner of Conkling and O’Donnell Street. They were considered one of the smaller breweries in Baltimore. The brewery was started there by Frederick and Anna Wunder (actually Anna and her first husband, Johann Baier). When they couldn’t keep up any longer, the brewery was purchased in 1885 by Joseph and William Straus. They named it the National Brewing Company. National Bohemian beer was originally brewed in 1885. In the 1888 Baltimore Business Directory, it is stated as owned by J.L. Straus & Bro. proprietors and located at O’Donnell near Third in Canton. It, primarily because of its size, it was forced to shut down during prohibition. Many of the larger breweries remained in business by producing ‘near beer’. After prohibition National returned with their famous mascot, the one eyed Mr. Boh.

Beer In Ads #5125: Bowler Brothers’ Bock

February 22, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Sunday’s second ad is for Bowler Brothers’ Bock Beer, which was published on February 22, 1915. This ad was for the Bowler Brothers’ Limited of Worcester, Massachusetts, which was originally founded in 1883. This ad ran in The Meriden Daily Journal, also of Meriden, Connecticut.

Beer Birthday: Fred Bueltmann

February 22, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is Fred Bueltmann’s 57th birthday. Fred was a partner in New Holland Brewing, and was their VP of brand and lifestyle before announcing his departure a few years back. He’s also a self-styled Beervangelist and published the “Beervangelist’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which was successfully funded on Kickstarter. These days he’s spending his time with the horses at Red Horse Center and playing Sousaphone with the Strapping Owls. I’ve met Fred several times over the years but got to know him a lot better at GABF a several years ago, when it seemed like we judged together on every other session, and had a marvelous time in between rounds. Join me in wishing Fred a very happy birthday.

Fred’s promo shot for his Beervangelist book.

beervangelist-2 — With Carolyn Smagalski at Wynkoop during GABF a couple of years ago. (“borrowed” from her Facebook page, thanks Carolyn).

Jeff-Mendel-and-Fred — Fred, with Jeff Mendel, at GABF in 2013.

mallett-1 — John Mallet, from Bell’s, with Fred at Red Horse Ranch in Michigan (photo purloined from Facebook).

Historic Beer Birthday: John Emmerling

February 22, 2026 By Jay Brooks 2 Comments

Today is the birthday of John Emmerling (February 21, 1851-May 24, 1912). He was born in Philadelphia, but moved to Johnston in Western Pennsylvania, where he founded the Empire Brewery in 1878. It was concurrently also known as the Emmerling Brewing Co. the entire time it was in business, until it was closed by Prohibition in 1920.

Here’s a biography of Emmerling, written in 1896 from the Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County:

JOHN EMMERLING, proprietor of the Empire Brewery, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, this State, February 22, 1851. His education was acquired in the public schools of his native city, upon the completion of which he learned the business of brewing. Subsequently, he traveled extensively, visiting many of the more important cities of the West, and finally, located in Pittsburg, where he married. In 1878 he came to Johnstown, and immediately embarked in the brewing business on his own account. Starting in the humble building now known as the Eintracht Hall, the brewery of John Emmerling prospered so well that in one year it was moved to the larger building now occupied by the bottling house of William Thomas. Six years more saw the business grow until it became necessary to build and remove to the large and commodious brick structure which occupies nearly half a square, fronting on Horner street. The plant is two hundred by one hundred and eighty feet, three stories high, and has an annual output of eight thousand barrels, and contains all the latest improved machinery known to the brewer’s art, including engines, two ten-ton refrigerators, seven pumps for various purposes, and bottling apparatus. A visit to the vault in which the beer is stored, gives to the uninitiated a genuine surprise. Following the guide, one wanders in and out among the huge hogsheads, some of which contain forty, and others as high as eighty barrels of the amber fluid, surrounded on all sides by pipes covered to the depth of several times their own thickness with white frost, produced by the intense cold of the ammonia and brine which they contain, one can but express astonishment at the wonderful advance made since the time when nature alone supplied the cooling substance. So large is the local demand for the beer brewed at this establishment, that very little is shipped out of the city. Two wagons are kept going constantly, and two others are used when the demand requires. The present force consists of fourteen men, to which several others are added when increased business makes demand. On September 26, 1872, Mr. Emmerling married Miss Phil. Houch, a daughter of Earnest Houch, a prominent citizen of Pittsburg, and to them have been born ten children. Mr. Emmerling was one of the organizers of the board of trade, in which he takes an active interest.

And this is his obituary from the Western Brewer, June 1912

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John Emmerling at the wheel of a 1908 Maxwell that he drove round-trip between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in a race with a $20,000 prize at stake (around $532,258 today’s money). Emmerling (who owned Emmerling Brewery) came out on top.

This is John Emmerling’s brewery, also known as the Empire Brewery in Johnston, Pennsylvania, which also served as the family’s residence.

emmerling-brewery

Beer In Ads #5124: Möerlbach Bock

February 22, 2026 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Sunday’s first ad is for Möerlbach Bock Beer, which was published on February 22, 1913. This ad was for the Möerlbach Brewing Co. of Rochester, New York, which was originally founded in 1908 by Mathias Kondolf. This ad ran in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, also of Rochester, New York.