Today is the birthday of Joseph Fallert (December 15, 1841-July 4, 1893). He was born in Achern in Western Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 1841 (though at least one source claims it was 1842, and was December 16), but moved to New York City when he was fifteen, in 1856, and worked for several different breweries in Brooklyn, before buying a building from his employer, brewer Otto Huber, and founded the Joseph Fallert Brewery in 1878. Incorporating in 1884, he renamed it the Joseph Fallert Brewing Co. Ltd. but it closed in 1920 for good when prohibition began.

I couldn’t find very much information about Fallert, not even when he passed away, although it appears possible that he may have outlived his son, who ran the brewery until his own death in 1919.

Take a look at this amazing newspaper ad from 1897, extolling the virtues of Fallert’s Alt-Bayerisch and especially its “family use.” “It’s a food.”

The Joseph Fallert Brewery at 52-66 Meserole Street in Brooklyn.