Balthasar Binzel was born in Germany. He emigrated to America in his 20s and stayed for a time in Milwaukee, where he practiced the brewery trade. By 1868 Binzel had moved west to Helena Montana. There he went in to partnership with John William Hamper to form the Union Brewery. Soon after partnered with John Denn form a liquor distributorship. In 1874 Hamper left the Union Brewery to start his own brewery in Radersburgh, and Binzel found a partner in Auguste Foller. By March of 1875 Binzel himself called it quits, leaving the brewery in the hands of Foller alone. He headed to the town of Blackfoot, where he started his own brewery, the Penobscot. This was also a short lived venture, ending in a sheriff's sale on February 9, 1881. This was only another bad event in a tragic 12 months for the Binzels. The previous year the family lost three children to diphtheria in the span of a month. Balthasar Binzel himself died on December 16, 1911 at age 77.