Rheingold Brewery

Antique Rheingold beer tray
Miss Rheingold 1949

Rheingold Brewery, also referred to as Rheingold Breweries, or Liebmann Breweries, was the producer and marketer of Rheingold Beer from 1883 until 1987. This article is about both the brewery and its primary brand "Rheingold," which has been sold by other companies intermittently since Rheingold Brewery was ended.

Founded by Samuel Liebmann and his three sons as S. Liebmann Brewery,[1][2] the brewing company was run by the Liebmann family, through several name changes, until 1964 when the fourth American generation sold it to New Jersey–based Pepsi-Cola United Bottlers.[3] At its peak, the company owned five plants around the United States and Rheingold was the leading beer brand in New York State with a market share as high as 35% during the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s.[4]

Rheingold Breweries was purchased by Chock full o'Nuts in 1974, and then by Christian Schmidt Brewing Company in 1977. Schmidt continued to sell Rheingold Beer under the subsidiary name, "Rheingold Brewery". In 1987, Rheingold was purchased by G. Heileman Brewing Company which continued to sell the beer but stopped using Rheingold Brewery or Breweries as a company name on the label. Sales of Rheingold Beer have been continued off-and-on by subsequent owners, with two gaps—one in the mid-1990s and another from 2013 through 2023.

The name Rheingold is an allusion to the legendary ring made of gold from the Rhein (Rhine) river in Germany, which is the subject of the opera Das Rheingold.[5]

  1. ^ Downard, William L. (1980). Dictionary of the History of the American Brewing and Distilling Industries. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0313213304.
  2. ^ Davis, Marni (January 1, 2014). Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition. NYU Press. p. 22. ISBN 9781479882441.
  3. ^ "LIEBMANN BOUGHT BY A BIG BOTTLER; Pepsi-Cola United Pays $26 Million for Brewer of Rheingold Beer". The New York Times. February 29, 1964. Retrieved December 30, 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Spellen1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Yenne, Bill (2004). Great American Beers, Twelve Brands That Became Icons. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company. p. 132. ISBN 978-0760317891.