Beck & May Is Founded in Bremen

On June 27, 1873, Lüder Rutenberg, Heinrich Beck, and Thomas May founded the Kaiserbrauerei Beck & May in Bremen. Rutenberg was a building entrepreneur, Beck a brewer, and May a merchant. The brewery began selling beer in hand-blown green bottles the following year, establishing an early connection between its product and the packaging later associated with Beck’s. Overseas sales became an important part of the business. An early shipment went through Bremerhaven to the Dutch East Indies in 1875, and the brewery subsequently supplied shipping companies as well as export markets. By 1900, its exports exceeded 100,000 hectoliters a year. The founding connects Bremen’s brewing history with the maritime trade through which Beck’s reached customers abroad.