Gottlieb Storz was born in  Benningen am Neckar, in the Kingdom of Wurttemburg, Germany.  Both of Gottlieb's parents died before he reached his teen years.   He came to America with an aunt at age fifteen and somehow found work in the breweries of New York City.   He took to the craft and soon rose in rank to brewer.  In around 1874 he accepted a position with the Anthony & Kuhn Brewery in St. Louis.  In 1876 he moved north and took an opportunity as brewmaster in Joseph Baumann's Columbia Brewery in Omaha, Nebraska.  Baumann died on the December 16th of that year and Storz may have been hired by his widow Wilhelmina.

In 1881 Storz met Minnie Gottiebin Buck, a recent arrival from Germany.  As it turned out Miss Buck was born in Pfullingen, a town not far from Storz's hometown in Wurttemburg.  They apparently hit it off as the two applied for a marriage license the following February.  It was a union that produced six children.

Wilhelmina Baumann at this time was in her late 40s and apparently ready to get out of the brewery business.  In 1884 Baumann accepted an offer from Storz and fellow employee Joseph D. Iler and the brewery was transfered into their names.  They ran the property as partners for five years at which point Iler sold his stake to Storz.  The year was 1891, and Storz would go on to run the brewery as sole proprietor for the next 48 years.  

Omaha was booming during the last quarter of the 19th century.  Even with strong competition from the Metz Brothers, Fred Krug and Jetter, Gottlieb Storz's brewery thrived, and by some measures, eclipsed them all.  In the early 1900s the brewery entered - and won - several international brewing competitions, and in 1908 they debuted Triumph Beer in celebration.  The brand would remain the brewery's premium brew for the rest of its existence.  

Gottlieb Storz died on October 24th 1939 at 87 years of age.  His brewery continued in his name for three more decades before it was putchased by the Grain Belt brewery of Minneapolis in 1967 and closed in 1972.  As of 2019 Storz Triumph Beer is being brewed once again by the Storz Trophy Room Grill & Brewery in Omaha.

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Associated Breweries