F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company was founded in 1842 by Frederick Schaefer, a native of Wetzlar, Prussia, Germany. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1838 at age 21 and set up a brewery shop in New York, NY.[1] The brewery get its name from Frederick and Maximilian, the brothers who founded Schaefer. There is some doubt as to whether or not he had been a practicing brewer in Germany, but there is no doubt that he was soon a practicing brewer in his adopted city. Schaefer Beer also had a brewing company in Albany, New York, but it was closed in the mid-1970s. F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company is not related to Engels and Schaefer Brewing Company of Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
The company sponsored the Schaefer Music Festival at Wollman Skating Rink in New York City's Central Park from 1968–1976, hosting some of the biggest names in popular music.
At one point in the 1970s and through the middle 80s, Schaefer owned the naming rights to Schaefer Stadium, the then home of the New England Patriots. The name was changed to Sullivan Stadium in the mid 1980s when Schaefer did not renew its contract.
The company also sponsored a long-running television program of quality first-run motion pictures, titled "Award Theatre" (also known as "Schaefer Award Theatre"). The series presented such movies with only four commercial interruptions. In New York City, the program ran several times a year on WCBS-TV through the late 50s and early 60s. [2][3]
In 1981, Schaefer was acquired by Stroh Brewing Company which, in turn, was acquired by Pabst Brewing Company in 1999.[4] Schaefer continues today as a Pabst label. The company's preservation society, Team Schaefer, is centered in Long Beach, California.