Andrew Albrecht was born in Bavaria. It is likely that he was a trained brewer.  On January 10th of 1825 he married Josepha Echtilor and together they had two children.  When their youngest was 23 Andrew and Josepha emigrated to America.  They landed in the port of New Orleans on the last day of December, 1851 after a 50 day ocean journey from Harve.  From there they continued another 1200 miles up the Mississippi River to Grant County Wisconsin.  Andrew was 53 and Josepha was 56.

Potosi came to be as a lead mining town, named for the famous silver mines of Bolivia.  There Andrew Albrecht met fellow Bavarian Gabrial Hale and together they formed a brewery to serve the miners a quarter mile west of the village center.  In about a year the Albrecht boys joined their parents in the New World.

On the 25th of September, 1853 Andrew's oldest son John Babtist married the Hale's oldest daughter Lizetta.  The two families, now one, would operate the Potosi Brewery for the next 23 years.

The firm was sold to Adam Schumacher in 1886.  The Schumacher family then ran the brewery until 1972 when financial pressures finally forced the business to close.

In 2008 the long-abandoned brewery building was resurrected and is still in use as a museum of American Brewery History run by the ABA.  The fate of Andrew Albrecht is lost - for now - to history.

Learn more at the links below

Associated Breweries