Historic Beer Birthday: John Roessle

December 23, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of John Roessle (December 23, 1808-October 3, 1873). He emigrated from Germany at fifteen, eventually settling in Boston, where he founded the John Roessle Brewery in 1846. It was one of the earliest lager breweries in the country, though they also used the name New England Brewing Co. from 1890 through prohibition. After repeal they became known as the Haffenreffer & Co., presumably having been bought by the Haffenreffer Brewery, which was also located in Boston, before closing in 1951. There’s not personal information I could find out about Roessle, though there’s plenty on his brewery.

And here’s his obituary from the Boston Evening Transcript in 1873:

And this is another account of Roeselle’s passing:

And this was written by Gregg Smith in 1997 for Yankee Brew News:

For centuries businesses have heralded any aspect of a product that can distance it from the competition. Location, processes, raw materials, and packaging have all been used to project an appealing cachet. Lacking those, they often resort to adjectives such as: quality, purity, tradition, best, finest, and preferred. But among all ways to boast a product none works better than the simple proclamation: First!
Brewer John Roessle became a “first” when he established a small brewery at 60 Pynchon street in Roxbury. It earned him a spot in New England beer history because from its opening in 1846 Roessle devoted production exclusively to brewing a new beer style that was capturing America’s taste.
Originating in Germany, the yeast for this beer arrived in the US only shortly before Roessle began construction of his brewery. It produced a distinctively clean beer with a crisp after taste unavailable in the much fruitier ale family of beer. This characteristic signature was the by-product of a lengthy, cold fermentation and so Germans simply named it after their word for storage – lager. The significance of the date not only made Roessle a pioneer of lager in the Northeast, it placed him among the first in the country to brew this style.
In those early days Roessle’s brewery had a maximum capacity of only 300 barrels, but despite its small size it had advantages over ale breweries. First, its flagship beer “Taffel” quickly became a favorite of Boston’s German population. More importantly, Roessle wasn’t burdened with the expense of distribution; enthusiastic and loyal customers bought every drop from the brewery’s door. It didn’t take long for Roessle to capitalize on the brand’s popularity by expanding the brewery. In fact, each time production increased sales rose equally.
Through four decades Roessle personally managed the business, then at his death in 1885 ownership was assumed by son John Roessle Jr. who directed operations for 11 more years. This wasn’t the brewery’s only father and son team. For over twenty years Robert Leiber carried out the duties of head brewer and when he died in 1890 the brew kettle was turned over to his son Albert. The fathers and sons of Roessle brewing performed so well the brewery was admired in the community, but not in the way they imagined.
During the 1890s breweries became the favorite investment of syndicates, and Roessle’s reputation made it one of Boston’s most attractive takeover targets. Among those noting the company’s impressive record was the New England Brewing Company, which presented John Roessle Jr. an offer substantial enough to make him sell. That same year they acquired the Haffenreffer brewery and two years later the Suffolk Brewing Company, and shifted the business address to 1250 Columbus Avenue, Boston. Despite consolidating, the continuing popularity of the Roessle brand prompted the new owners to preserve the name, and as the century turned the facility hit an annual production figure of 65,000 barrels.
For more than 20 years the syndicate reaped the profits of the Roessle’s name, as the beer slowly captured more of the Boston market. By 1918 the brewery was growing outmoded and badly needed a modernization. Then the unimaginable happened–Prohibition. At its onset, the syndicate closed the Roessle plant. It lay slowly decaying, becoming more obsolete with each day of prohibition’s 14 year lock out.
When repeal came they considered it too inefficient for further operation and the only plant they reopened was that of Haffenreffer. Once a darling of the city, the doors were shut forever, but no one will ever again claim the title of New England’s first.

Historic Beer Birthday: Conrad Binding

December 23, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Conrad Binding (December 23, 1846-December 17, 1933). He was a German brewer, entrepreneur and sponsor, and founded the Binding brewery in 1870. “After 1919 the Actien brewery Homburg vd Hoehe was transferred to the Binding brewery, which merged in 1921 with the Hofbierbrauerei Schöfferhof from Mainz and the Frankfurter Bürgerbrauerei to form the Schöfferhof-Binding-Bürgerbräu AG. In 1939, the first barrel of the “Römer Pils” brand, which is still well known today, was tapped. The brewery was 70 percent destroyed in an air raid during World War II. The brewery has belonged to the Oetker Group since 1952.” After the reunification of Germany, they acquired several more breweries in the former East Germany, including Radeberger Pils, and for a time it was known as the Binding Brauerei or Binding Group, but was later renamed the Radeberger Group.

This is part of his biography, translated from German Wikipedia:

Conrad Binding came from a family of bakers. His great-grandfather, Johann Peter Binding (1735-1804) immigrated from Reichelsheim to the Free City of Frankfurt and received Frankfurt citizenship due to his marriage to the master baker’s daughter Sibylla Catharina Becker (1746-1782) . Their son, Johann Lorenz Binding (1776-1856) ran a bakery in the house at Fahrgasse 17 as a master baker and became wealthy. From his marriage to Maria Dorothea Schäfer (1783-1834) came 14 children, including Conrad Binding’s father, Daniel Binding (1810-1883), who took over his father’s bakery. His older brother Eduard Binding (1810-1869) received a doctorate in law, the younger brother Theodor (1820-1892) Müller in Versbach near Würzburg, Emil (1822-1893) wine merchant, Carl (1823-1860) private owner and Ferdinand (1813-1870) operator of the Café du Grand Balcon on the Boulevard des Italiens in Paris.
After returning [from studying brewing and internships in other parts of Germany], he explored the Frankfurt beer market. There were 30 breweries in the city. The brewery founded by Ernst Ehrenfried Glock in 1860 was in financial difficulties. Binding succeeded in acquiring the Glocksche brewery on 1 August 1870 for 84,000 guilders (equivalent to about 144,000 marks after the currency reform of 1875). In addition to the brewery at Garküchenplatz 7 with the “Stadt Schwalbach” inn, he acquired a rock cellar at Darmstädter Landstraße 163 with inventory for 20,000 guilders. He financed the founding of the company with 11,000 guilders from his mother’s inheritance and borrowing.
The business benefited directly from the interruption in the supply of Munich beer as a result of the Franco-Prussian War . The subsequent founding years ensured further growth. In the Frankfurt beer riot of 1873, Binding got away with a small loss of 400 guilders and benefited indirectly from the far larger losses of some competitors. In 1874 he received a loan of 42,000 marks from his father, which he used to expand his business.
The brewing market had changed significantly. The small breweries largely disappeared, the brewery joint stock companies founded from the early days achieved ever larger market shares. Binding also decided to convert the sole proprietorship into a stock corporation . This was founded on May 16, 1885. Binding contributed his company shares, which were valued at 3.2 million marks, and became chairman of the board. In 1895 he moved to the head of the supervisory board. During his time as CEO, beer output had doubled from 86,983 to 167,207 hectoliters.
Binding gradually withdrew from the company and also reduced his shareholding. In 1899 he founded a brewery in Essen . The Brauhaus Essen expanded until the First World War , but then suffered from the wartime economy and was sold in 1918/19.
Inflation hit Binding Brewery hard. With the involvement of the Bank für Brau-Industrie , this merged in 1921 with the Hofbierbrauerei Schöfferhof from Mainz and the Frankfurter Bürgerbrauerei to form the Schöfferhof-Binding-Bürgerbräu AG. Conrad Binding retired from the company and lived privately until his death.

And this history is from a Frankfurt online news service, translated by Google:

For the 1st. August 1870 Conrad Binding (1846-1933) took over the small brewery Ehrenfried Glock on Garküchenplatz in the old town. The brewer’s career for Conrad Binding began as early as 1862. Against the advice of his father, who suggested that he study law, the young man began an apprenticeship as a brewer in Sachsenhausen.
As was customary at the time, Conrad Binding experienced his hiking years as a brewer in southern Germany, Austria and France. In 1869 he returned to his hometown to become self-employed in 1870.
The aspiring entrepreneur stayed in the narrow streets of the old town for only eleven years before building a beer factory on the other side of the Main in Sachsenhausen. Modern production and takeovers of smaller regional competitors have remained the constants in the company’s history for decades. The brother Carl Binding ( 1854-1925 ) joins the company; the one-man company becomes the “Binding’sche brewery company“ 1884.
The first bottled beer filling went into operation in 1905. The brewer’s name is stamped into the brown glass bottles, the variety name is on a neck label – as is the trademark, the eagle, and the note „ brewery filling “. Three years later, a sandstone relief Conrad Bindings as a representative of the brewer’s guild will be attached to the south building of the new town hall in Bethmannstrasse, which can still be seen today.
After the First World War, the Binding brewery, the Hofbierbrauerei Schöfferhof in Mainz and the Frankfurt Bürgerbrauerei merged to form „ Schöfferhof-Binding-Bürgerbräu AG “ in 1921. At the same time, the Johann Jakob Jung brewery is also taken over on Darmstadt’s Landstrasse. More larger breweries will follow.
On the occasion of his 85th. On his birthday, a street in Sachsenhausen was named after Conrad Binding in 1931. Shortly before the completion of his 87th. The master brewer dies on the 17th. December 1933 in his hometown. He is buried in the family grave in the main cemetery in Frankfurt.
The brewery was not spared the Second World War. The brewery on Sachsenhäuser Berg was badly damaged in the severe air raids on the city in 1944. The following years are then going up again. Since 1953 the Oetker Group took over the helm, numerous further acquisitions followed in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony.
The establishment of “Clausthaler“ as a national brand for non-alcoholic beer proved to be far-sighted more than 40 years ago. Initially smiled at, In times of falling consumption, the non-alcoholic beers have long since become hopefuls in the brewing industry. Together with the nationwide wheat beer brand Schöfferhofer, Clausthaler forms the economic backbone of the Binding company, which, however, is extremely reluctant to pay exact figures on sales, sales and profits of the individual brands.
Another major cut in the Frankfurt brewery market followed in 2001 with the takeover of the Henninger brewery. It has a much longer tradition: the nucleus was in 1655 when Eberhard Stein founded his brewery. In 1869 Heinrich Christian Henninger joined the Stein brewery. The small traditional brewery becomes a modern brewing company that moves into a new brewing facility in Sachsenhausen in 1875.

This history is from the company’s website, translated by Google:

Conrad Binding was born in Frankfurt am Main on December 23, 1846, the second of four sons of master baker Daniel Binding and his wife Sibylle, née Bieber.
Against the advice of his father, who suggested he study law, Conrad Binding began an apprenticeship as a brewer in 1862, with master cooper Raumer in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen.
Conrad Binding experienced years of travel as a journeyman beer brewer in southern Germany (Erlangen, Augsburg, Munich), Austria (Vienna-Schwechat) and France (Paris, Sèvres, Lyon, St. Pourcain, Tautonville, Chateauroux). In 1869 he returned to Frankfurt.
On August 1, 1870, Conrad Binding acquired the small Ehrenfried Glock brewery in Frankfurt’s old town at Garküchenplatz 7, with an output of 1,500 hectoliters, for 84,000 guilders. As a brewery owner, he is not only responsible for monitoring production, but also for sales.
Conrad Binding dares the step from a craft to an industrial company and builds a completely new, modern brewery on the Sachsenhausen hill in 1881. The brother Carl Binding (1854 – 1925) joins the company; The one-man company becomes the “Binding’sche Brauereigesellschaft” in 1885,
Conrad Binding becomes the first and Carl Binding the second board member of the newly founded stock corporation “Binding’sche Brauereigesellschaft”.
On January 28, 1902, the name day of Charlemagne, Binding Carolus Doppelbock is served for the first time.
The first bottling of beer goes into operation in 1905. The name of the brewery is embossed in the brown glass bottles, the type designation is on a neck label – as is the trademark, the eagle, and the note “Brauerei-Füllung”. For the first time, the light and dark lager and export beers are also advertised, always emphasizing their special quality.
A sandstone relief of Conrad Binding as a representative of the brewer’s guild is attached to the southern building of the newly built New Town Hall on Bethmannstrasse in 1908.
In 1921, the Binding brewery, the Hofbierbrauerei Schöfferhof and the Frankfurter Bürgerbrauerei merge to form “Schöfferhof-Binding-Bürgerbräu AG”. At the same time, the Johann Jakob Jung brewery on Darmstädter Landstraße is also taken over. The merger creates a strong company. Conrad Binding resigns from the supervisory board and retires to private life.
On the occasion of his 85th birthday, in 1931, a street in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen is named after Conrad Binding.
Conrad Binding died shortly before his 87th birthday on December 17, 1933, in his hometown. He is buried in the family grave in the Frankfurt main cemetery.

Beer In Ads #5148: Frontenac Christmas Bock Beer

December 22, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Last year 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.

Saturday’s ad is for Frontenac Christmas Bock Beer, which was published on December 22, 1914. The brewery was the Frontenac Breweries Limited of Montreal, Canada, which was originally founded in 1911. This ad ran in The Montreal Star also of Montreal, Canada.

Beer In Ads #5147: Schmidt’s Old Style Bock Beer For The Holidays

December 21, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Sunday’s ad is for Schmidt’s Old Style Bock Beer, which was published on December 21, 1934. The brewery was the K.G. Schmidt Brewing Co. of Logansport, Illinois, which was originally founded in 1866 by August Frost and only became Schmidt’s after prohibition in 1934. This ad ran in The Pharos Tribune also of Logansport, Illinois.

Historic Beer Birthday: Peter Schreihart

December 21, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Peter Schreihart (December 21, 1825-<1916). This is an odd one, insofar as there are conflicting or accounts which are odds with one another, and I suspect there’s some truth somewhere, I just don’t know what that might be. Anyway, Peter Schreihart was probably born in Austria and may have founded the Schreihart Brewing Co., most likely along with his son John Schreihart, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in 1879. The confusion begins with his being mentioned in “The Brewers’ Journal and Barley, Malt and Hop Trades’ Reporter, and American Brewers’ Gazette, consolidated, Volume 41,” published on November 1, 1916.

Part of this confusion stems from another mention in the “American Brewers’ Review, Volume 31,” from 1917, the year after the previous mention above.

Note that Peter Schreihart is referred to as a “pioneer brewer” and “founder” in that blurb, but most accounts state that Peter’s son John Schreihart founded the Schreihart Brewing Co. Here’s one such account from the “History of Northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc.,” published in 1881 by the Western Historical Co., of Chicago:

Pautz’s Brewery was built in 1849, by Mr. Hottleman, he being the first to brew beer in the county. G. Kuntz purchased the brewery of him in 1865. Messrs. Fred. Pautz and John Schreihart became the owners in 1875. In November, 1878, the former purchased the interest of the latter, and is now conducting the business alone. The capacity of the brewery is about 1,600 barrels of beer per annum.
Schreiharts’s Brewery. In 1879, John Schreihart established himself in business, and is now conducting a brewery on Washington street. He has been brought up in the business and understands it.

From what I can piece together about the brewery itself, it appears to have been built in 1849, and went through several name changes from the William Fricke Brewery, the Christian Fricke Brewery, and then the Carl Fricke Brewery. It seems to have been called by the latter name when Frederick Pautz and John Schreihart bought it in 1875, but it didn’t become the John Schreihart Brewery until he bought out Pautz in 1879. A few years later, in 1884 until the following year, it was known as the John Schreihart & George Kunz Brewery, presumably because Schreihart took on George Kunz as a partner. Then there’s a gap in the record, but by 1891 it was known as the Schreihart Brewing Co. until it was closed by prohibition in 1920. The building apparently lay dormant after repeal in 1933, but from 1937-1942 housed the Bleser Brewing Co., which I assume was because they leased or bought the building where the Schreihart had brewed.

Historic Beer Birthday: Heinrich Beck

December 21, 2025 By Jay Brooks

becks-white
Today is the birthday of Heinrich Beck (December 21, 1832-June 10, 1881). He was born in Eislingen, Germany, but emigrated to America, settling in Indiana, and worked as brewer there. When he was 32, in 1864, he moved back to Germany and got a job in Bremen working as the brewmaster in the St. Pauli Brewery. In 1873, he co-founded Beck’s Brewery, formally known as Brauerei Beck & Co. “The brewery was formed under the name Kaiserbrauerei Beck & May o.H.G. in 1873 by Lüder Rutenberg, Heinrich Beck and Thomas May. In 1875, Thomas May left the brewery which then became known as Kaiserbrauerei Beck & Co.” Since 2001, the brand has been owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, through their predecessor Interbrew, who since then have moved production of the beer to St. Louis, although they continue to market it as a German beer.

This short biography is from the Memim Encyclopedia:

Heinrich Beck, the son of a butcher emigrated 1854 to Indiana in the United States to earn his living there by brewing beer. In 1864 he moved back to Germany. He moved to Bremen, where he worked first as a brewmaster in the St. Pauli Brewery. Finally, a year later he married Christine Duering, with whom he had four children later. On June 27, 1873 Heinrich Beck founded together with Luder Rutenberg and the accountant Thomas May the Emperor brewery Beck & May OHG. In 1874 it was then the gold medal for the best beer of the later Emperor Friedrich III. presented. Thomas May 1875 resigned out of business, and Heinrich Beck took over the company under the name of Beck & Co. In 1876, he eventually developed a beer after Pilsener style, which was ideal for transport overseas and as the “best of all continental beers ” was honored at the World Exhibition in Philadelphia. On June 10, 1881 Heinrich Beck died at the age of 48 years in Bremen. After his death, his brother Friedrich Spiegel took over the brewery.

And this lengthy history of the brewery is from Encyclopedia.com:

Brauerei Beck & Co. is the world’s largest exporter of beer, accounting for more than one-third of the total exports of beer products from Germany. Sold in some 200 countries, Beck & Co.’s core markets include the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, and China. In addition to Beck’s beer, the company also brews such brands as Haake-Beck, Beck’s Dark, Beck’s for Oktoberfest, and Rostocker. Although Beck & Co. is primarily a beer company, the privately held firm also benefits from holdings of glass manufacturing concerns and a bottling concession with Coca-Cola Co.
The original breweries that today comprise the corporate entity of Beck & Co. have roots that reach back to medieval times in Bremen, a major port on the Weser River. The city-state of Bremen was an important member of the Hanseatic League, a powerful federation formed by German merchants in the Middle Ages for trading and defense. Bremen’s merchant class tightly controlled Northern European shipping and commerce for two centuries and influenced it for many more.
One of the largest exports out of the Bremen harbor during the Middle Ages was beer from the city’s breweries, of which there were more than 300. As early as the 13th century, this beer was exported to Scandinavia, England, and Holland, and in 1489 the city’s breweries formed the Bremen Brewers’Society to regulate the production and export of the beverage. As foreign markets clamored for Bremen’s beers in subsequent centuries, competition increased, and only the brewers whose products consistently withstood long sea journeys survived. By 1870 only 30 of the original 350 members of the Bremen Brewers’Society remained, including the Beck Brewery, which had altered the chemical formulation of its beer to produce a heavy barley ale that survived the rigors of the trade routes. Until modern brewing technology was developed in the 19th century, this type of ale was a standard Beck product.
In the late 19th century, prominent Bremen business leader Lueder Rutenberg incorporated the company that became known as Brauerei Beck & Co. after the Beck brewery was merged with two other local breweries, Bierbrauerei Wilhelm Remmer and Hemelinger Aktienbrauerei. In 1921 Beck & Co. formed a cooperative agreement with another Bremen brewery, the Brauerei C.H. Haake & Co. Control of the market was divided between Beck & Co. and Haake, with Brauerei Beck & Co. agreeing to produce beer for the export market under the brand name of Beck’s, while Haake-Beck Brauerei AG would sell its products under the names Haake-Beck, Remmer, and Hemelinger in the domestic German market. Haake-Beck Brauerei was later made a subsidiary of Beck & Co., making Brauerei Beck the largest privately owned brewery in Germany.
The location of Beck & Co. in the port city of Bremen contributed to its success and played an influential role in many outward aspects of the firm. Bremen’s status as a major player in North European commerce facilitated Beck’s delivery to several foreign ports. The reputation of the Bremen brewers solidified the beer’s potential to hold and maintain increasing shares of foreign markets. Although the beer was at first shipped in the traditional barrels, Beck & Co. began exporting bottles sheathed in straw and packed in weighty wooden crates to withstand high seas.
In its advertising Beck & Co. features an important aspect of its history—the Reinheitsgebot, or Purity Law, enacted by the Bavarian Court of Duke Wilhelm IV in 1516. The law specified that only malted barley, yeast, hops, and water could be used in beer brewed in Germany for the German market. German beer exporters stressed this law in citing the long tradition of excellence of German beers, but not all brewed their export beer in compliance with the statute. All of Beck’s beers, according to the company’s literature, contained only hops grown in the nearby Tettnag and Hallertau regions, water from Geest-area springs and the reservoirs of the Harz mountains, and a particular strain of yeast cultivated for decades by the brew masters at the Bremen plant.
Each year the city of Bremen held the Schaffermahl, a formal dinner held in mid-February that dated back to the 16th century when the Haus Seefahrt Foundation established the gathering to raise money for needy sailors. Prominent guests gathered in the city hall, smoked traditional white clay pipes, and dined on a meal of dried fish and smoked pork. The most important part of the dinner, however, was the beer brewed by Beck & Co. especially for the occasion and drunk from pewter tankards. This was a version of the company’s original Seefahrtsbier, the extremely strong quaff that could withstand long sea voyages.
The evolution of lager beers (“lager” being German for “to store”) was spurred by technological developments, including research into yeast cultures and fermentation as well as the invention of refrigeration. In bottom-fermented beer, the yeast sinks to the bottom, which makes a clearer beer that is less likely to sour, but which needs to be stored and cooled longer than top-fermented ales. Beck & Co., like the other major German breweries, began producing lager beers late in the 19th century.
Because of its chemistry, beer had a relatively short shelf life, until modern brewing and storing methods improved matters. Beck & Co. continually invested in state-of-the-art brewing facilities, applying technological innovations to improve product quality. For instance, Beck & Co. managed to greatly reduce the oxygen count of its product to give it a longer shelf life. Beck & Co. was also one of the first breweries to use the modern keg. These have been improved by using stainless steel containers as well as a hygienic tap system that helps lengthen the amount of time beer can be stored and reduces the risk of contamination involved in pouring draft beers.
Building an International Presence: 1960s-80s
In the mid-1900s, Beck & Co. was the last brewer remaining in the city of Bremen. The brand name of Beck’s, however, was found only on bottles exported out of Germany; the company’s Haake-Beck, Remmer, and Hemelinger lines were brewed specifically for domestic consumers. These three brands retained their vestigial names to help differentiate them in a large and diverse home market and remind drinkers of Bremen’s long brewing history. Each of them, while targeting different domestic markets, also represented a distinct product, reflecting the dissimilar tastes of Germans for their beer. Haake-Beck’s beer was distributed throughout all of Germany, whereas the Hemelinger and Remmer brands were part of the tradition of local specialty beers found in and around Bremen. Also carrying the Remmer brand name was a light beer with a lower alcohol and calorie content that was distributed throughout Germany.
On the international market, Beck & Co. attempted to appeal to the widest range of tastes while still adhering to German brewing standards. The Beck’s beer sold in North America, for instance, was a much lighter version of a traditional German brew. Here, the products found under the Beck’s label, in addition to the flagship lager, included Beck’s Dark, Beck’s Light, and Haake-Beck. These were imported by Dribeck Importers Inc. of Greenwich, Connecticut, a subsidiary founded in 1964.
Although there were several thousand breweries producing regional beers, Beck & Co. was one of the few that distributed throughout all of reunified Germany. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 opened up a huge new market of consumers for German companies. Beer brewed in the former East Germany by state-owned breweries was poor in quality because of a shortage of raw materials and antiquated machinery. Frequently adulterated with corn or rice, East German beer required additives to enhance shelf life and thus did not meet Reinheitsgebot standards.
Increasing Competition and Challenges in the 1990s
Shortly after trade between the two Germanics was fully reestablished, Beck & Co. began selling its products in the former East German states and achieved remarkable gains in sales, due in part to the novelty of West German beer among consumers there. In April of 1991 Beck & Co. acquired the Rostocker Brauerei VEB, formerly a state-owned company in Rostock, a port on the Baltic Sea. Although Beck & Co. had to invest heavily to upgrade the brewery’s equipment, it gave the company an excellent position from which to target the East German market, brewing a new and improved Rostocker for East German consumers. In addition, the geographical location of the newly acquired brewery permitted easier access for exports of Beck’s beer to areas within the former Soviet Union. By 1992 Beck’s products were sold in most of the former Eastern Bloc countries.
As consumers around the globe were drawn to import beers for their sophisticated edge, Beck & Co. sought to position itself as part of a centuries-old tradition of German brewing excellence, stressing both the company’s longevity and the quality of its product. In the 1980s, however, a North American trend toward moderation in alcohol consumption had a significant impact on import sales, while a weakened U.S. dollar also made it difficult for foreign companies such as Beck & Co. to keep prices low. Competition in the beer market became fierce as consumers’palates became more discriminating. The company’s inroads into Eastern Europe did help offset the decrease in import sales by its Dribeck subsidiary in the United States.
Company Perspectives:
Beck & Co. is prepared for the challenges ahead: with top quality products, creative brand marketing as well as efficient and customer-oriented services. For it is our declared aim to remain one of the most successful companies of our sector in Germany —well into the next millennium.
Although Beck & Co. expected a unified Germany to provide great opportunity for expansion and profit, by the mid-1990s conditions were gloomy for the beer industry in Germany. The market suffered from oversaturation, and as economic conditions in Germany worsened, so did beer consumption. During the second half of the decade, German consumption of beer fell at an annual rate of about two percent, and the trend was expected to continue into the early 21st century. A number of factors contributed to the change in beer consumption habits. The German population was not growing significantly, which meant the pool of new beer drinkers was shrinking. In addition, fewer young people were drinking beer. According to Beck & Co., only about two-thirds of Germans over the age of 16 admitted to consuming beer on a regular basis. Many of these young people preferred to drink mixed drinks or nonalcoholic beverages. The drop in beer consumption also was attributed to the 1998 reduction in the legal blood-alcohol limit while driving.
The weak German economy also prompted beer drinkers to opt for lower priced and private label products. This hurt sales of Beck’s medium-priced Pilsner products. Beck & Co. indicated that the combined market share for all medium-priced and regional Pilsner brands fell by more than ten percent between 1994 and 1999. Not only were medium-priced Pilsners affected by the low-priced products, but they also faced competition from the high-priced premium brands, which were gaining in popularity.
In contrast, as the German beer market began its decline, the U.S. market thrived. U.S. subsidiary Dribeck reported double-digit revenue increases in 1996 and 1997, thanks in part to the increased popularity of imported beers and microbrews, which Beck & Co. believed influenced consumers to become more adventurous and open to trying beers with different tastes. Beck & Co. focused its efforts on building the North American market in the late 1990s, and in 1998 it changed the name of Dribeck to Beck’s North America, Inc. It also expanded the role of Beck’s North America to encompass not only sales duties but also marketing. To enhance the brand recognition of Beck’s, Bill Yetman, CEO of Beck’s North America, assembled a team of young district managers who were directed to establish relationships with bartenders and pub owners in the company’s core markets, which included San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, New York, and Miami, and to keep their fingers on the pulse of the beer market.
Despite positive growth in the United States—revenues of the subsidiary reached US $138 million for the fiscal year ended June 1999, up 8.7 percent over fiscal 1998—the company still had a long way to go in the highly competitive U.S. beer market. To that end the company invested US $20 million in a U.S. advertising campaign in 1999. The budget, which was twice as large as any of Beck & Co.’s U.S. advertising campaigns, was about a third of the company’s total worldwide advertising budget. The campaign, which included television and radio spots as well as a print effort, was designed to position Beck’s beer as the premium German beer and to boost brand recognition. Rainer Meyrer, executive vice-president of marketing for Beck’s North America, explained in an interview with Modern Brewery Age that market research had indicated that “56% of our sample are convinced that the best beer brewed outside the United States is made in Germany.” Therefore, Meyrer continued, “Our new campaign will focus on that issue—that Beck’s is a German beer.”
In other markets around the world, Beck & Co. experienced ups and downs in the late 1990s. The company introduced its beer in India in the mid-1990s through a partnership with Him Neel Breweries Ltd. In 1999 Beck & Co. dissolved its license agreement with the Putian Jinse Brewery, which was responsible for brewing its premium Pilsner. Beck & Co. formed a new agreement with Lion Nathan Ltd., an Australasian brewery, to produce and market Beck’s beer to the Chinese market. Also in the late 1990s Beck & Co. merged Stralauer Glashütte GmbH with its Nienburger Glas unit and consolidated subsidiaries Franz Mielke GmbH & Co. KG, Getranke Liebelt GmbH & Co. KG, and W.I.R.: Liebelt GmbH & Co. KG into Bremer Erfrischungsgetranke-GmbH.
Although revenues for fiscal 1999 declined slightly, from DM $1.62 billion in fiscal 1998 to DM $1.61 billion, gross profit increased. Beck & Co.’s domestic sales fell 1.7 percent, but total domestic beer sales declined 3.9 percent, somewhat easing the blow of the drop. The outlook was more promising for fiscal 2000, and during the first half of fiscal 2000 the company reported that sales of Beck’s beer rose 7.4 percent. An increase in growth in beer sales of three to four percent was forecast for the full fiscal year. Beck & Co. worked to expand international operations in 1999 as the German market continued to slump. The company formed strategic partnerships with companies in Poland, China, and Australia, and in November 1999 Beck & Co. made its largest foreign investment to date when it formed an alliance with Namibia Breweries Ltd., which had enjoyed an average growth rate in beer sales of about 15 percent since 1995. In January 2000 the company announced plans to spin off Nienburger Glas to concentrate on growing its international business. Beck & Co. also planned to expand its beverage offerings to include more nonalcoholic drinks and premium beers, which were predicted to undergo healthy growth.

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Beer In Ads #5146: Christmas Bock Beer

December 20, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Saturday’s ad is for Frontenac Bock Beer, which was published on December 20, 1914. The brewery was the Frontenac Breweries Limited of Montreal, Canada, which was originally founded in 1911. This ad ran in The Montreal Star also of Montreal, Canada.

Historic Beer Birthday: Joseph Liebmann

December 20, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Joseph Liebmann (December 20, 1832-March 26, 1913). He was born in Schmiedelfeld, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. His father owned the Castle Schmiedelfeld, but when Joseph was seven, the family moved to Ludwigsburg and operated the Zum Stern Inn there, which also included a brewery. For political reasons, some of the family moved to America around 1850 to build a home, and the rest followed in 1854. Initially he ran the old Maasche Brewery, but later built a new brewery in Bushwick. Originally, it was called the Samuel Liebmann Brewery, but when his sons joined the brewery, it was called the S. Liebmann’s Sons Brewery. When Joseph’s father died in 1872, Joseph and his brothers took over the family brewery, and Henry became brewmaster, while Joseph “was chiefly responsible for financial matters,” though for a time was also president of the family brewery. After prohibition ended, the brothers’ six sons re-opened the brewery as the simpler Liebmann Breweries, but in 1964 they changed the name again to Rheingold Breweries, after their most popular beer. The brewery closed in 1976.

Here’s his obituary from the New York Times:

This is from “The Originators of Rheingold Beer: From Ludwigsburg to Brooklyn – A Dynasty of German-Jewish Brewers,” by Rolf Hofmann, originally published in Aufbau, June 21, 2001:

New Yorkers over the age of fifty will remember the brand name Rheingold Beer and the company’s brilliant publicity stunt in which a bevy of attractive young women competed annually for the privilege of being elected that year’s Miss Rheingold and appearing in ads on billboards and in the subways throughout the New York area.
The beer’s evocative name with its allusion to Germany’s great river, was the culmination of a German-Jewish family enterprise that had its beginnings in 1840 in the town of Ludwigsburg, north of Stuttgart, in what was then the Kingdom of Württemberg. One Samuel Liebmann, a member of a prominent Jewish family in the region, settled there and bought the inn and brewery “Zum Stern.” A liberal and staunch supporter of Republican ideals, Liebmann encouraged other like-minded citizens, including some soldiers from the garrison, to meet in his hospitable surroundings. The ideas fomented there contributed to the local revolution of 1848. It brought the opprobrium of the King down upon Liebmann’s enterprise, and “Zum Stern” was declared off limits to the soldiers. Soon thereafter, in 1850, Samuel Liebmann emigrated to the U.S.
The family settled in Brooklyn and Samuel, together with his three sons, Joseph, Henry, and Charles, opened a brewery once again at the corner of Forest and Bremen Streets. With the responsibilities divided among the family – Henry became the brewing expert, Charles. the engineer and architect, Joseph, finance manager – the company was already flourishing by the time of Samuel’s death in 1872. Success also led to a concern for the company’s Brooklyn surroundings, and the Liebmanns became involved in local welfare – focusing on housing and drainage systems.
Each of the three brothers had two sons, and when the older Liebmanns retired in 1903, the six members of the third generation took over. Other members of the family also contributed to the gradual expansion of the company. In 1895 Sadie Liebmann (Joseph’s daughter), married Samuel Simon Steiner, a trader in high quality hop, an essential ingredient for good beer. Steiner’s father had begun merchandising hop in Laupheim in 1845 and still today, S.S. Steiner, with its headquarters in New York, is one of the leading hop merchants. Under these fortuitous family circumstances, beer production grew constantly. In the early years, the brewery had produced 1000 barrels per year, by 1914 its output stood at 700,000 barrels.

The Liebmann family.Unfortunately, political developments in the U.S. between 1914 and 1933 were extremely disadvantageous for the Liebmann brewery. The resentment against Germany and anything German during World War I led to an informal boycott of German beers. Following close upon the lean wartime years, was the implementation of Prohibition in 1920 forbidding the manufacturing and trading of alcohol. The Liebmann enterprise managed to survive by producing lemonade and a product they called “Near Beer.”
With the reinstatement of legal alcohol production under President Roosevelt in 1933, opportunities for the brewery opened up, abetted by the anti-Semitic policies of Hitler’s Germany. The pressures on Jewish businessmen there, brought Dr. Hermann Schülein, general manager of the world-renowned LšwenbrŠu brewery, to America. Schulein’s father, Joseph, had acquired two of Munich’s leading breweries at the end of the nineteenth century–Union and Münchner Kindl–and his son had managed the 1920 merger with Löwenbrau. Arriving in New York with this experience behind him, Hermann Schülein became one of the top managers of the Liebmann brewery and was instrumental in its spectacular growth after World War II.
Working with Philip Liebmann (great-grandson of Samuel), Schülein developed a dry lager beer with a European character to be marketed under the brand name “Rheingold.” According to company legend, the name was created in 1883 at a brewery dinner following a performance at the Metropolitan Opera. When the conductor took up his glass, he was so taken with the shade of the beer, that he declared it to be the color of “Rheingold.” For New Yorkers, however, the name Rheingold did not bring to mind the Nibelungen fables, but the pretty young ladies who participated in Schülein’s most brilliant marketing strategy – the selection of each year’s Miss Rheingold by the beer-drinking public of greater New York
At the height of the campaign’s success in the 1950’s and 60’s, the Liebmann Brewery had an output of beer ten times that of Löwenbrau at the same time in Munich.
For thirty years, Rheingold Beer reigned supreme in the New York area, but by 1976, as a local brewery, it could no longer compete with nationwide companies such as Anheuser & Busch, Miller, and Schlitz, and its doors were closed. Only recently, using the same brewmaster, Rheingold is once again being sold in the tri-state area.

Here’s an “Origin of Liebmann Brewery” posted by a relative on Ancestry.com:

On May 12 1833 (Sulzbach-Laufen Archive) Samuel and his older brother Heinrich bought a castle/inn Schmiedelfeld, Sulzbach-Laufen, Schwaebisch Hall District that dated from 1739. They renovated the place and created a prosperous farm/estate and in 1837 began a brewery in the cellar. In 1840, he moved to Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart and purchased the gasthaus [guest house or inn] “Zum Stern” on Seestrasse 9 (later Zum Rebstock) which included a brewery. (source: Translation extract from Dr. Joacim Hahn’s book, History of the Jewish Community of Ludwigsburg)
After supporting a movement to oust King William I of Wurttemberg, and sensing the wavering tolerance of Jewish businessmen, Samuel sent his eldest son Joseph to the US in 1854 to scout out a location to establish a brewery.
Samuel retired in 1868 and turned the family business over to his sons Joseph, Charles, and Henry under the name S. Liebmann’s Sons Brewery.

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Historic Beer Birthday: Charles William Bergner

December 20, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Charles William Bergner (December 20, 1854-May 4, 1903). He was the son of Gustavus Bergner, who bought into the brewery Engel & Wolf, and renamed it Bergner & Engel, and it later became the Bergner & Engel Company.” William Bergner, as was best known, was born in Philadelphia, but learned to be a brewer in Germany. “He was president of the United States Brewers’ association from 1897 to 1899, and for many years was president of the Philadelphia Lager Beer Brewers’ association.”

This is his obituary from Ambler Gazette, of May 7, 1903:

Businessman. He co-founded the Bergner and Engel Brewing Company, which was located in the Brewerytown Section of Philadelphia, and was at one point the 3rd largest brewer in the United States.
C.W. Bergner Is Dead. Well-Known Brewer Dies in Philadelphia. Death Results from Paralysis of the Heart–Sketch of His Active and Successful Life–Mastered the Brewing Business–His Many Interests.
Charles William Bergner, president of the Bergner & Engel brewing company, died Tuesday at 10 o’clock a.m. in Philadelphia. His death came suddenly, although he had been in ill health for nearly two years. He had a malady of the stomach, liver and kidneys which brought on an acute affection of the heart that proved fatal.
Last year Mr. Bergner went to the mountains of Scotland by order of his physician and his health was much improved in consequence. He came back feeling quite well and continued so for some months. He left his office a week ago with a sharp attack of indigestion, which developed into paralysis of the heart.
Mr. Bergner was born in Philadelphia, Dec. 20, 1854, and was the only son of Gustavus Bergner, who until his death in May 1883, was president of the Bergner & Engel Brewing company, which he had founded. The son received his early education at a private academy in Philadelphia and at the high school at Lawrenceville, N.J. He afterwards studied at Augsburg and Munich, in Germany, and spent three years in travel in Europe.
Returning to this country he mastered the brewing business in every detail, serving in every part of the great establishment of which his father was the head. This was in 1873. His progress in this practical education was rapid and he assumed duties of greater and greater importance after his father’s death, until in 1891 he was elected president of the company.
Mr. Bergner became interested in several financial and industrial institutions, but at his death he was connected with only two, the Standard Ice company and the bank of the Northern Liberties. Of the former he was president and of the latter a director. He had been a director of the Commercial National bank, the Delaware Insurance company, and the Teutonic Insurance company, and vice president of the Guarantors’ Indemnity Company of Pennsylvania.
He was president of the United States Brewers’ association from 1897 to 1899, and for many years was president of the Philadelphia Lager Beer Brewers’ association. He was consul for the kingdom of Belgium, and in 1888 was vice president of the United States commission to the Brussels exposition. The king of the Belgians conferred upon him the following year the order of Leopold.
He was president of the board of trustees of the Medico-Chirurgical hospital, but resigned that position in January, 1898. He was a life member of the Union League club, a member of the Art club, the Historical society, the Franklin institute and all the German societies of Philadelphia. He sold his house at 1627 Walnut street about a year ago and since then has resided altogether at his country place in Ambler, which was erected over a dozen years ago at great cost and is one of the most beautiful and complete in this region.
A widow, a son, Gustav, and a daughter, Catharine, who is the wife of Charles Bispham, survive him. Mrs. George A. Fletcher, his sister, resides at 216 North Thirty-fourth street, Philadelphia, in winter and at Radnor in summer. Mr. Bergner was very charitable in a quiet and unostentatious way. He did not speculate either in real estate or in stocks.
The funeral will be at noon this Thursday at the family residence, Ambler, and the interment will probably be in West Laurel Hill cemetery.

And this is his entry from The Cyclopædia of American Biography, published in 1918, James E. Homans, editor:

BERGNER, Charles William, president of the Bergner and Engel Brewing Company of Philadelphia, and Belgian consul, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 20 Dec., 1854; d. at his country home, Ambler, Pa., 4 May, 1903, son of Gustavus William (1832-83) and Catharine Christine (Wehn) Bergner. The Bergners came into prominence in mediæval Europe as early as the First Crusade, and the subsequent history of the family can be traced through a line of distinguished ancestors, dating from that time. The first member of the family to come to America was Charles William Bergner, grandfather of the subject of this review. He was a woolen goods manufacturer, the owner of extensive dye factories, and the Burgomeister (mayor) of Crimmitzschau, Saxony, Germany, where he lived. In 1849 he visited America. While in Philadelphia he loaned a sum of money to a brewing establishment, and the firm becoming insolvent soon afterward, he found himself, as chief creditor, obliged to assume control of the business. Thrust by accident into a vocation about which he knew nothing and being in a strange country, this man, who possessed the loftiest ideals and who, by inheritance and training, was of the highest type, — could not adapt himself to the vastly changed conditions of his life, and soon succumbed under the strain and died. He had succeeded, however, in laying the foundation of the house of Bergner and Engel. Gustavus William Bergner, son of Charles William and Johanne Fredericka (Richter) Bergner, was ambitious for a mercantile career, and at the age of sixteen entered a chinaware firm in Philadelphia, and on account of his exceptional ability was soon afterward offered a partnership in the business. The death of his father, however, prevented his acceptance of this opportunity and made him the head of the brewing enterprise. Under his successful management it became one of the large establishments of its kind. His son, Charles William Bergner, and the second of the name to assume the management of the business, received his early education in the private schools of Philadelphia, and was prepared at Lawrenceville, N. J., to enter Princeton College, but completed his studies in Germany, after which he entered the celebrated brewing schools of Munich and Augsburg, in order to perfect his knowledge of the practical part of the industry. He returned to America in 1873. He, however, had little predilection for an industrial career and wished to adopt a profession, preferring that of the law. Soon after his father’s health failed and the son, prompted by motives of filial duty and affection, took his place in the firm of Bergner and Engel in a modest capacity. Naturally an able business man, he did not long remain in this subordinate position, but was soon promoted to a clerkship and later made head bookkeeper. On the death of his father, 6 May, 1883, and later that of Charles Engel and his son, Theodore, Charles William Bergner (2d) assumed the entire management of the business. In 1890, upon the formation of a stock company, he was elected president of the Bergner and Engel Brewing Company, an office which he filled with unvarying success until his death. Because of his unusual knowledge of every branch of the business, his untiring energy and active interest in all matters pertaining to the brewing industry, and the high-minded persistence with which he carried out the splendid moral standards and business traditions of his ancestors, Mr. Bergner came to be regarded as one of the foremost figures in his line of industry in the United States. For five successive years he was elected president of the Philadelphia Brewers’ Association, and in 1896 was made president of the United States Brewers’ Association, of which organization he had served as president of the board of trustees for many years. He was actively associated with various other industrial and commercial enterprises, and was a director of the National Bank of Northern Liberties and the Delaware Insurance Company. He was also interested in a number of charitable and educational institutions. In 1895 he was appointed Belgian consul in Philadelphia; and as a mark of appreciation for his services at the International Exposition, held in Brussels in 1896, King Leopold of Belgium bestowed upon him “The Order of Leopold.” He was a man of great culture and was passionately fond of music and all the fine arts. He was a bibliophile, and possessed a very fine library and also had a large and valuable collection of rare engravings and etchings. He was a member of the Grolier Society, the Fine Arts Club, the Historical Society, and the Union League Club of Philadelphia. Charles William Bergner was married to Ella Annear, daughter of John and Anne (Wotton) Annear, in Philadelphia, 9 March, 1874. Of this marriage there were four children: Gustavus William Bergner, who is now president of the Bergner and Engel Brewing Company; Catharine Christine, deceased, who married Charles K. Bispham; Anita Ella, and Otto William, both deceased.

Beer In Ads #5145: Extra! Just Out! Peter Doelger Bock Beer

December 19, 2025 By Jay Brooks

Friday’s ad is for Peter Doelger Bock Beer, which was published on December 19, 1911. The brewery was the Peter Doelger First Prize Brewery of New York, New York, which was originally founded in 1870. It was located in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston, and today the site of the brewery is where the Boston Beer Co. operates one of its breweries. This ad ran in The New York Times also of New York, New York.

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