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Gack & Biser
P. Lieber Brewing Company
About 1868 - 1887
C. F. Schmidt Brewing Company
1850 - 1887
Casper Maus Brewery
1868 - 1887
Indianapolis Brewing Company
1887 - 1948
(photos courtesy
Bruce Mobley)
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Peter Lieber was the private secretary to General Oliver Morton during the Civil War. He and brother Hermann bought the brewing firm of Gack & Biser renamed it the P. Lieber Brewing Company. The date of this purchase is quoted in some sources as being in the 1870s but the 1868 Indiana Business Directory lists "City Brewery, P Lieber & Co, 213 S. Pennsylvania" so it's safe to assume this firm started before then. Hermann sold his interest in 1880 to William Schrever.
Jacob Metzger, a German immigrant and father-in-law of Herman Lieber, had a bottling company in Indianapolis and bottled Metzger and Tafel brand beers made by the P. Lieber company in 1893. He also bottled Budweiser, Bass Ale, and Guinness Extra Stout.
Founded by John Schmidt, the C.F. Schmidt brewery was located at the south end of Alabama Street. "By the outbreak of the Civil War, Schmidt Brewery was producing a superior lager beer, and soon was supplying troops stationed in Indianapolis." - Nuvo, June 8, 2005.
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"Mr. Bosenberg is sole agent for the justly celebrated C. F. Smith's (sic) Lager Beer, manufactured at Indianapolis, Indiana. The qualities for which this beer is most distinguished are its healthfulness, purity, brilliancy of color, richness of flavor &c, the result of excellent water, intelligent care of its brewers conjoined to the use of apparatus possessing all the best modern improvements made in this country or elsewhere, and to the superior quality and quantity of the ingredients used. No claims are made for this beer that cannot be substantiated." - Rochester Sentinel, Feb 29, 1888
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Caspar Maus, an immigrant from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, moved to Indianapolis to get away from pro-slavery interests during the Civil War. His older brother, Frank Maus Fauvre, was married to someone of the Schmidt brewery family.
These three brewing companies formed the basis of the Indianapolis Brewing Company in 1887.
Peter Lieber was the president of the new company. Albert Lieber, Peter Lieber's son was the first managing director. They both were Republicans but changed allegiance because of a temperance plank in the party's platform. Peter was very involved in Democratic politics and was the messenger who took Indiana's electoral votes to Congress one year. Peter was appointed Counsel to Duesseldorf in 1893 by President Grover Cleveland.
There evidently was a time when the three breweries had a working relationship before 1887. The Daily Herald of Delphos, Ohio, July 15, 1896, reported a fire in Lieber's brewery "on Madison" and said "Lieber's brewery is one of the three in this city controlled by the Indianapolis Brewing owned by an English syndicate."
The C. Maus plant was converted into a distillery in early 1900.
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"Indianapolis is the Home of Gold Medal Beer Lieber's Special Bottled and Porter
The Great Plants of the Indianapolis Brewing Company, R Schmidt Branch, and P. Lieber have long been first among the show places of business enterprise of this and every year to thousands of visitors from far and as admirable examples of order and perfect sanitary conditions in the manufacture of malt. The up-to-date equipment of all that constitutes a modern brewery makes this company rank among the largest and best in the world.
The output is not only known over the United States but the bottled goods are exported to the West Indies and South America. It is entirely within the truth to say that no product sent out of our city carries the name of Indianapolis to as many people of this earth as do the labels placed upon products of this company.
Thirty million labels are annually used in the bottling department. The company has approximately 500 employees here. 210 head of horses and 9 automobiles are required in the work. Besides brewers there are employed wagon electrical steamfitters and machinists. Brewers in this country and at every international exhibition of importance.
The magnificent reputation of the large business enjoyed by the company was not built in a day. Its substantial foundations were laid over fifty years when three small breweries were founded by Peter Lieber, C. Schmidt and C. Maus. In 1889 these breweries were amalgamated into the present company. The company is one of the largest if not the largest taxpayer in Indianapolis or Marion County. A cordial invitation is extended to the public to inspect its plants at any time." - Ad in Indianapolis Star, Sept 7, 1914
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John W. Schmidt died in Feb, 1914. He sold his interest in the brewing business in 1890 according to his obituary in the Indianapolis Star, Feb, 23, 1914.
They made Ozotonic and malt extract before and during prohibition.
C. F. Schmidt plant at McCarty and High Streets closed on May 27, 1920 after 70 years of brewing.
Reincorporated as Indiana Breweries, Inc. after prohibition (1933). Renamed back to Indianapolis Brewing Co in 1935.
A correspondent writes "My mother was going through an old box and discovered numerous items from our family's history. Among these items are stock certificates for 'Lieber Brewing Corporation'. They are dated January 1935.
The Indianapolis Encyclopedia reports that the IBC closed in the 1940s when the president, Lawrence Barden, went to jail for short-filling bottles.
Brands included Tafel, Circle City, Crown Select, Duesseldorfer, Lieber's Gold Medal Beer ("Tastes Right, Named Right"), Tonica, Burgomaster, Derby, and Progress Beer.
Located on the northwest corner of what is now New York and University Boulevard on the IUPUI campus.
They won a gold medal for their Duesseldorfer in Paris in 1900. There was a "magnificent industrial parade" when they returned with the medal. They also won the grand prize gold at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
Kurt Vonnegut's grandfather was Albert Lieber. The recipe for a dark lager beer that Peter Lieber devised was brewed by Wyncoop Brewing, Denver, in 1996 to celebrate the new library there. It was called Kurt's Mile-High Malt. A "secret ingredient" of the brew was coffee.
The company put out a set of baseball trading cards in 1916.
In 1938 they appealed a case to the US Supreme Court to fight Michigan's beer importation laws. They lost. This case has been referenced many times including G. Heilman's bankruptcy and many cases about mail-order beer and wine sales.
Home of John William Schmidt,
president of the Indianapolis Brewing Company.
Built in 1890.
Coin minted for IBC's Gold Medal Beer.
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Capital City Brewing Co. 1905 - 1915
Here's a picture of a bottle of Frank Wrights Ale. Time of manufacture unknown but his brewery was listed in The 1868 Business Directory for Indiana. The brewery was on Blake Street near the river.
Brewpub. Part of the 
Brewpub. Part of the Rock Bottom chain out of Denver.
An extract brewpub added to a Bombay Bicycle Club chain restaurant on Michigan Road near I-465 on Indianapolis' northwest side. Reviews of the beers were not good and it closed after about 2 years in business. The chain also tried this same formula with one of their restaurants in Clearwater, FL.
Built inside an entrance to the Castleton Square Mall.
Brewpub. Started by Ted Miller, formerly the brewer at the Broad Ripple Brewpub and located only 4 blocks away. Belgian beers are the specialty.