Today is the birthday of Charles Tascher (February 8, 1832-June 5, 1890). He was born in Stark, Ohio, but moved with his family to be raised in Indiana, where he married Elizabeth Soice in 1854. A few years later, Tascher then moved his family to Colorado, settling in Denver. Initially, along with a business partner, Frederick Zadek Salomon, he started a successful mercantile business. From that success, and the addition of Tascher’s brother-in-law, Charles Endlich, the trio founded Denver’s first brewery, Rocky Mountain Brewery, in 1859.

As Endlich’s involvement with the brewery grew and his brother-in-law became sole proprietor, Tascher withdrew from the brewery, moved to Central City, and became a miner (which was the reason he moved West). He passed away at age 58 in 1890.

As for the brewery, Philip Zang bought into it around 1868 and eventually took it over, renaming it the Philip Zang Brewery in 1870, though they continued to use the Rocky Mountain name in the trade. They closed during prohibition, of course, but only lasted one year afterwards before closing for good in 1934.