Samuel Liebmann


Samuel Liebmann was a German-born American brewer and founder of S. Liebmann Brewery in Brooklyn, New York. Introduced after his death, the main brand Rheingold Extra Dry was one of the most popular beer brands in New York City in the 1940s to 1960s.

Biography

Samuel Liebmann was born to a Jewish family in 1799 in the Aufhausen, a district of the municipality of Bopfingen, the son of Berta and Joseph Liebmann. His father was a merchant and religious instructor. He had three brothers and two sisters and attended elementary school in Aufhausen. After the death of his father in 1832, Liebmann and his brother Heinrich left their hometown and bought the estate Schloss Schmiedelfeld which they operated with economic success.
Liebmann moved to Ludwigsburg in 1840. There he acquired the Gasthaus "Zum Stern" with attached brewery, which he also led successfully. He was a supporter of the revolutionary movement during the German Revolution which led to the government banning royal soldiers, the majority of his clientele, from visiting his establishment. This combined with the failure of the revolution led to his immigration to the United States. In 1850, he sent his son Joseph Liebmann to America to build a home; in 1854, he officially immigrated with the rest of his family to New York City.
He leased the Maasche Brewery on Meserole Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn which he renamed as the S. Liebmann Brewery. After the lease expired, he established a new brewery under the same name on the corner of Forest and Bremen Street in Bushwick. Three years after the death of his wife in 1865, he retired from active management of the brewery giving the management of the brewery to his sons.

Personal life

In June 1828, Liebmann married Sara Wasserman Selz. They had six children:
Samuel Liebmann died in 1872 in his house in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.