Philip Zang, future Denver brewery magnate, was born in Bavaria. He emigrated to America in 1852 and settled in the town of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1859 he and Philip Meyer purchased the Joseph Metcalfe Brewery on Market Street.  He renamed it the Kentucky Brewery and employed his brother Joseph to tend the saloon in front.  But the Market Street brewery was an old facility and Zang stopped brewing there after less than two years. The firm was leased by John Englin who converted it into a Malt House.  Meanwhile the Zangs established their own Louisville Malt House on Sixth Street, between Main and the River. 

In 1864 Philip Zang and William Vogt established the Phoenix Brewery and Gardens on Phoenix Hill.  Two year later he picked up Phillip Schillinger as an investory and as a baker likely provided food for the daily picnics and weekly parties thrown at the Gardens.  In 1868 Zang's Beer picked won Gold Medals in both the Louisiana Mechanical and Agricultural Fair and the Kentucky State Fair.

On May 10, 1869 a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, signaling the completion of the Transcontinental Railway.  Zang, the businessman, saw an opportunity.  He closed his Louisville brewery that year and moved west to Colorado.   There he went in to partnership with John Good to purchase the Rocky Mountain Brewery in the town of Denver.

Denver in 1869 had just been designated the territorial capital of Colorado.  It was a town of around 4000 people, mostly young miners hoping to strike it rich in their claims along Cherry Creek.  In 1870 the railroads came to town, and with them an economic boom and a steady population growth of 100 people a day. Denver would end the decade with a population of 35,629, which was comparable in size to Atlanta, Georgia.

By 1870 Zang had purchased Good's share in the brewery and was in complete control. He grew the firm to be the largest such concern west of the Mississippi.  He ran the Rocky Mountain until his death on February 18, 1899. His brewery continued on in his name for another 16 years, until Colorado prohibition laws forced it's doors shut in 1915.

Charles Tascher was born in Canton Ohio, the oldest child of Valintinus and Marie Tascher. At a young age his family moved to St. Joseph County, Indiana, where Charles was raised.

In 1858 Charles, his wife Elizabeth Soice and their five children journeyed west to Colorado following the promise of riches in the boomtown of Denver. They were joined by his sister Wilhelmina and her husband, a Chicago brewer named Charles Endlich.

When they arrived Tascher partnered with Frederick Zadek Salomon to form the first mercantile company in that city. From that mercantile evolved, in 1859, a brewery, also a first for Denver. As the Rocky Mountain Brewery grew, and with it Elndlich's influence, Tascher's partnership faded.

In the autumn of 1866 Tascher's mother and sister died within 13 days of each other. Also in early September Charles Endlich, who by now was the sole proprietor of the Rocky Mountain Brewery, died as well, leaving the business in the hands of his younger brother John.

By 1870 Tascher was in Central City living as a miner with his brother, sister-in-law and nephew. The 1880 census shows him still mining in Central City, living with his brother Jacob, their widowed sister and her 21 year old son, Charles Endlich Junior. Charles Tascher died in those mountains on June 5th, 1890. he was 58 years of age.

John Good was born in Uhrwiller, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany. The Good family emigrated to America in 1854 and settled in Ohio. In the late 1850s John married and took his wife to settle in the booming town of Denver Colorado. In 1860 he joined with merchant Fred Salomon and veteran brewer Charles Endlich to manage the Rocky Mountain Brewery, a company that had been formed just a few months earlier as the first brewery in Denver. Salomon left the partnership in 1861. Endlich and Good continued in the prospering brewery. During the early 1860s Charles Endlich stayed in Denver while John and his brother Adam opened Rocky Mountain Brewery branches in the mining camps Blackhawk and Central City Colorado. Endlich died in 1864 leaving the entire operation to the management of Good. In 1868 Good took on Philip Zang as partner. Zang was already a formidable pro in the brewery business,. having ran the large Phoenix Brewery in Louisville Kentucky since 1859. Zang took over sole proprietorship of the Rocky Mountain Brewery in 1870 and Good went into the mining camps to establish breweries in Leadville and Aspen. At age 66, when most people look to retire, John Good was not yet done. The Milwaukee Brewery in Denver had become available and Good saw an opportunity to once again brew beer on a grand scale. Good purchased the company in 1900 and renamed it the Tivoli Brewery. John Good died on November 22, 1918 at age 84 years.

Adolph Joseph Zang, son of Philip Zang and eventual president of the Ph. Zang Brewing Co. was born.

Despite the scare quotes, the Rocky Mountain Brewery manages a good review from a travelling reporter for the Davenport Morning Democrat.

The Salomon Tascher & Co. Brewery of Denver reorganized into Salomon & Co., a three-person copartnership of Fred Z. Salomon, Charles Endlich and John Good.