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.

Gabrial Hail Jr. was born in Memmingin, Barvaria.   His family emigrated to America in 1849 when Gabrial was just 14 years old.  They settled in Grant County, Wisconsin where they became farmers.  In 1853 his father and Andrew Albrecht established a brewery in the town of Potosi, and in that brewhouse Gabrial Jr. received continuing education in the craft of brewing. 

On September 28, 1858 Gabrial married Elizabeth Hummel, and together they would have seven children.  

On the 15th of September 1874 Gabrial's brewhouse education was put to the test, when his father died.  Five months later, on March 26th 1875 his faith was put to the test when his wife died. Gabrial Hail Jr. himself died on the 24th of July, 1879, by his own hand.  He had hung himself from the brewery rafters.  He was 48 years of age.

After these tragedies the brewery laid idle for several years.  The family finally sold the firm to Adam Schumacher in 1886.

The Hails of 1853 would be shocked to know that their little brewery in the mining camps of Southwestern Wisconsin is today the ABA museum, the Mecca of American Brewery history enthusiasts. 

Adam Schumacher was born in Obershaw, Bavaria, the oldest son of John George and Clara (Muller) Schumacher.  He came to America at age 19 through the port of New York and made his way to Grant County, Wisconsin where his uncle Christian Schumacher owned a farm.

Through his uncle, Adam found work at the Hale Brewery in the town of Potosi, but it was short-lived.  The owner, Gabrial Hale, Jr., died the summer after Schumacher came to town, and the brewery was soon dormant.  Adam then took his experience found employment at the nearby Joseph Vogelsburg Brewery in British Hollow.  There he learned the art of brewing.

By 1886 he had earned enough experience and credit to buy the idle brewery in Potosi.  In 1891 he brought his 29-year-old brother Nicholas in to the firm.  He had been a dry goods merchant in Davenport Iowa and was put to work in the brewery as business manager.  His brothers Henry and George joined them in 1893.  Henry, who at age 18 was the youngest of all seven Schumacher boys, trained to be brewmaster.

With Adam's loyal crew the Schumacher Brewery flourished.  The company purchased a 147-foot steamboat and rechristened her the Potosi.  With it the captain ferried delivery wagons up and down the river to the big towns, while the deckhands took orders from approaching boats from the fishing camps.  The salesmen made their transactions right over the gunwales then dropped the beer barrels directly into the water where their new owners towed them back to shore.

In November of 1905 the brewery was reorganized and officially renamed the Potosi Brewing Company, and $10,000 was raised by the sale of stock.  This was used to expand the brewery and increase its territory.  By the time Prohibition made beer illegal in 1920 Potosi products were sold in five states.

In 1920 Adam Schumacher was 61 years old and took the moment to retire.  He moved to Los Angeles, a popular destination for retired Wisconsin brewers of the era.  The question of what to do with the brewery now was left in the hands of the next generation.

The brewery survived the 13 years of Prohibition by branching out into dairy.  They sold coal and ice from their ice plant.  They debuted new non-alcoholic brands called Potosi Non-Intoxicating, Potosi Pale, and Wisconsin Supreme.  They also produced a root beer.  When the clock struck midnight on April 14, 1933 it was Repeal Day, and trucks were lined up at the brewery door for a half a mile.

Adam returned to Potosi from time to time.  His brother Henry died in 1938, and George followed him in 1941.  Adam passed on at the age of 82 on January 24th, 1942.

The Potosi brewery continued operating profitably for another three decades.  But by 1970 all the Schumachers at the brewery were over 70 years old, and no family member wanted run the brewery.  The old men decided to simply close the brewery down.

Brewing ended in November of 1972 and 36 workers were laid off.  The remaining nine employees operated a beer distributor out of the plant, but that too soon closed.  The Schumachers sold the Potosi, Holiday and Alpine brands to the Jos. Huber Brewery.  The equipment was sold for scrap or rotted on the brewery floor.