Hermann Obert was born in Karlsruhe, Germany. His family came to America in 1854, when Hermann was ten years old. They settled in Manayunk, a community in Philadelphia on the Schuylkill River.

Obert was put to work as a child in the cotton mills of Manayunk. In 1863 he got a position as a heater in the Pencoyd Rolling Mills, a firm in which he rose to the position of "Head Heater". It was here he met Peter P. Liebert, who was an engineer in a competing mill. Together they decided to enter the coal trade, and, seemingly on a whim, to start a brewery.

The brewery they started in Manayunk was so small they mashed the barley by hand, but demand grew so quickly the coal business was soon put on the back burner. The brewery continued to grow in popularity through the turn of the 20th century until it was finally closed down by National Prohibition in 1920. Hermann Obert died on the 25th of May, 1899 at age 55 years.

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