F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company

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The F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company was an American brewery . At the height of its success, the Schaefer Brewery was the fifth largest brewery in the United States .

history

Founded by the turn of the century

In 1838 the German émigré Frederick Schaefer took up a job in the New York brewery of the entrepreneur Sebastian Sommers. This brewery was on Broadway , between 18th and 19th streets. Four years later, he and his younger brother Maximilian bought Sommers' shares and founded FM Schaefer Brewery .

Due to the increasing popularity of the lager beer , which was still relatively uncommon in the USA at the time , a new, larger production site was opened in 1845 on 7th Avenue, between 16th and 17th Street. Since this new location also turned out to be insufficient within a few years, the company moved to the corner of 4th and 51st Street. The brewery stayed at this location for the next 67 years. Since the Schaefer brothers had bought a number of properties in Manhattan and these had increased considerably in value due to the ongoing boom between 1840 and 1860 - the Grand Central Terminal opened in 1871 - the brewery was equipped with a solid capital stock.

The Schaefers ran their brewery with great success. In 1871 their company was the sixth largest brewery in the United States. In 1880 the name F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company was chosen.

Frederick Schaefer died in 1897, his brother Maximilian took over the management of the brewery until his death in 1904. In June 1912, Rudolph Schaefer, Maximilian's son, bought the shares from Frederick's heirs and became president of the brewery. In June 1915 the company expanded again: the Schaefer brewery moved to Brooklyn .

prohibition

During Prohibition , Schaefer produced low-alcohol light beer , ice cream and coloring. Rudolph Schaefer died in 1923. His sons Frederick ME and Rudolph Jr. took over the management of the brewery.

With the end of Prohibition, regular brewing operations were resumed. One of the brewery's slogans at the time was “Our Hand Has Never Lost Its Skill”.

Expansion and IPO

In 1938 an annual output of over 1 million barrels was reached. Output doubled over the next six years. In order to grow further, the Beverwyck Brewing Company's brewery site in Albany was acquired in 1950 . That same year, Schaefer Brewery was the fifth largest brewery in the United States, with annual output of 2.7 million barrels.

In the 1960s, the Schaefer breweries had to hold their own against a number of other breweries in the region: American Brewery, Inc. , Carling Brewing Company , Cumberland Brewing Company , Globe Brewing Company , National Brewing Company, and Queen City Brewing Company . The competition in the beer market, which has meanwhile also been carried out nationwide, intensified over the next few years: This was already evident in 1960 when the Schaefer Brewery was only the eighth largest brewery in the country despite an increase in annual output to 3.2 million barrels.

Schaefer countered this trend and bought the Standard Brewing Company in Cleveland in 1961 . However, the market entry into the Ohio region turned out to be unsuccessful: the location was sold to Christian Schmidt Brewing Company in 1963.

On June 19, 1963, the production site of Theodore Hamm Brewing Company in Baltimore was acquired . All 290 employees at the site were taken on by Schaefer, including master brewer Paul V. Glomp, who already filled this position when the production site was operating as the Gunther Brewing Company before it was taken over by Hamm . In addition to its own beers, the Schaefer brewery also brewed Hamm and Gunther beer brands under license .

In 1963, the Schaefer Brewery was the seventh largest brewery in the United States with an annual output of 3,866,000 barrels. Annual sales were $ 75-100 million. At that time, around 3,000 people were employed by Schaefer. On April 19, 1964, Schaefer bought the Gunther beer brands from the Hamm brewery. On December 1, 1964, the 4 million barrel mark in annual output was reached.

The production site in Baltimore was expanded bit by bit. A total of 80 additional employees were hired and over half a million US dollars invested in new facilities. On January 28, 1965, the decision was made to further modernize the Baltimore site: an investment plan of around 1 million US dollars was announced. Most of the production in Baltimore was sold to Puerto Rico , where Schaefer had a market share of up to 67%.

In 1968 the Schaefer brewery went public. The F. & M. Schaefer Corporation acted as a holding company for the outsourced production subsidiary Schaefer Brewing Company . In 1970 Schaefer was again the fifth largest brewery in the United States, with an annual output of 5.75 million barrels.

In 1971 the construction of a new brewery site with a production capacity of 1.1 million barrels began in Fogelsville , a district of Allentown . In 1972 the company started operations here. Because the Albany site was judged to be outdated and inefficient, it was closed on December 31, 1972. In 1973, Schaefer acquired the trademark rights to the beer brands of Piel Bros. , which were owned by The Associated Brewing Company .

In 1975 Schaefer expanded the capacity at the Fogelsville site to five million barrels. On January 22, 1976, the Brooklyn location was closed. The Baltimore site was closed on July 7, 1978.

Decline and sale

By 1978, the Schaefer Brewery's success had declined due to nationwide competition: it was only the ninth largest brewery in the United States. In 1980 the location in Fogelsville and all brands of the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company were taken over by the Stroh Brewery Company .

Schaefer beer is now produced by the Pabst Brewing Company .

Trivia

  • Schaefer was on the 1939 World's Fair and the New York World's Fair in 1964 represented a restaurant ( "Schaefer Center").
  • From 1967 to 1976 Schaefer sponsored the Schaefer Music Festival named after him .
  • From 1971 to 1983 the Foxboro Stadium was called "Schaefer Stadium". This was the first sponsorship deal in the United States in which a stadium naming right was granted.
  • Between the late 1950s and early 1960s, Schaefer sponsored a television program ("Schaefer Award Theater").

literature

  • David G. Moyer (2009), American Breweries of the Past , Bloomington (Indiana): AuthorHouse, pp. 74-77 (English)
  • Gregg Smith (1998), Beer in America: The Early Years - 1587-1840 , undated .: Brewers Publications, pp. 158–161 (English)

Web links