Philip Fresenius was born in Germany.  He emigrated to America as a young man and established himself in a brewery in New York City.  After several years he struck out on his own and found a home in the town of New Haven, Connecticut.

At age 27 Fresenius established a brewery in that town on Congress Avenue.  It was a small operation.  He made his first deliveries by strapping kegs across his shoulders.  By 1874 demand for his beer had increased to the extent he leveled the old brewhouse and erected in its place a 225 foot long building along the entire block of Congress Street.  Further additions during the next decade attested to the growing popularity of his lager.

Philip Fresenius died in 1888, the day before his 64th birthday.  Upon his passing his sons took over the brewery and ran it until Prohibition shut it down in 1920.  After Prohibition the company re-opened as the Hull Brewery.  It closed down for good in 1977.

The New Haven (Connecticut) Morning Journal-Courier reports that sign painter A. Keisle has painted a sign on Philip Fresenius's Brewery that is said to be the largest sign in the state.