Vintage 1935 Daeufer-Lieberman Beer label Poster

This is a digitally enhanced image from a vintage 1935 Daeufer-Lieberman Beer label. The Daeufer-Lieberman Brewing Company was Allentown's (PA) first large-scale brewery. It came about though the merger of two Nineteenth-Century Allentown Brewers. The Lieberman Brewing Company began in 1848 when William Oberly opened it at Sixth and Union streets. Oberly was a longtime brewer whose roots went back to the Eagle Brewery, the first brewery in Allentown. Joseph Lieberman purchaced it in 1897 who renamed it the Joseph Lieberman's Sons Brewery, later Liberman Brewing Company in 1910. The Daeufer Brewing Company dates to 1869 with the Henry Koenig Brewing Company located at 16 South 8th Street. In 1876 the brewery moved most of its operations to a larger building complex at Jefferson and Lawrence streets. Koenig operated the company under several names until 1879 when he sold the Brewery to Jacob Daeufer. Both the Daeufer and Lieberman Breweries operated separately until 1915 when they merged, forming the Daeufer-Lieberman Brewing Company. During the Prohibition era of 1920-1933, Daeufer-Lieberman produced "near beer," a beer that contained a lower percentage of alcohol. The brewery's real downfall, however, came following Prohibition. The rich, thick, dark beer it produced was no longer popular in the post World War II era when returning servicemen wanted a lighter beer. Daeufer-Liberman Brewing Company closed in 1949.