Schaefer Beer

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Schaefer Beer is a brand of American beer first produced in New York City during 1842 by the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company.^[1] The company relocated to Brooklyn in the early 20th century. It went public in 1968 with a $106 million stock offering.^[1]

In order to expand capacity for regional sales and fend off competition from national brands, Schaefer began construction of a large modern brewery in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania (near Allentown) that same year. Known as the Lehigh Valley Plant, it opened in 1972.^[1] In 1974, it was expanded from its original 1.1 million barrels-per-year capacity to 2.5 million, and then enlarged again in 1975 to over 5 million barrels.^[2]

In both the 1950 and 1970 rankings Schaefer Beer was one of the top selling beers in the US, ranking as high as fifth.^[3] Though it was producing more than twice as much beer in 1980, the gap between it and the top national brands was dramatically widening. In 1981, the Schaefer family sold the company to the Stroh Brewery Company.^[4]

Stroh's then took over the Allentown plant in its own bid for national market share. It operated the plant until the company was absorbed by Pabst Brewing Company in 1999. When Pabst divested its facilities and opted to become a "virtual brewer", it sold the plant to Diageo just two years later.^[5] In 2008, Diageo sold it to the Boston Brewing Company, the brewer of Samuel Adams beer.

Pabst retained the license to Schaefer, and as of 2021 outsourced a reformulated brew it labels "Schaefer" and sells in niche markets in the United States.^[6]