Published July 14, 2025 | Updated August 11, 2026

Two years after Fred Krug opened the city’s first brewery, Philip Metz opened its second with his partner Joseph Baumann in 1861.

Fred was the older of the two, having been born in Germany in 1832, followed by Philip in 1836. Following in his father’s footsteps, Fred originally found work as a forester. With dreams of riches, however, he set sail for the United States. First he worked odd jobs in New Orleans before returning to Germany in 1856 to retrieve his brother.

The brothers landed in St. Louis, where Philip trained as a brewer and Fred worked as a clerk in a dry goods store before moving to Bellevue, Nebraska, and then to Denver, Colorado, where he opened a general store during the gold rush.

After making his way back to Nebraska in 1864, Fred joined Philip in the brewing business at 6th and Leavenworth Streets. After buying out Joseph’s share of the business, they renamed the “one-horse business” Metz Brothers Brewery. Joseph Baumann then hired Gottlieb Storz to run his new Columbia Brewery. Gottlieb would soon join the likes of Krug and Metz.

Fred suffered greatly in the years following his wife Louisa’s death during childbirth in 1873. The two were married in 1855 and had eight children, one of whom passed away as an infant. He lost his mother in 1874, followed by brother and brewmaster Philip in 1875 at age 39. Philip was accidentally killed when the wagon he was riding in hit a bump, causing his gun to discharge. He had married Josephine in 1864 after coming to Omaha and had four children: Emelia Metz Hockenberger, Eleanor Metz Hamilton, Philip Jr., and Gus. None of them appear to have followed their father into the family business, though Philip Jr. became a physician.

The series of tragedies left Fred not only to operate the growing brewery but to also raise seven children under the age of 17: Minna Metz Siemon, Estella Metz Schroeder, Charles, Fred Jr., Antonia Metz Hauck, Arthur, and Louis. Four years after Josephine’s death, Fred married Adeline, 19 years his junior, in 1877. Afterward, he had three more children: Louise Metz Funk, Herman, and Frances Metz Klemm.

Fred continued to run the business himself until the early 1880s, when he was joined by sons Charles and Fred Jr. By 1888, his other two sons, Arthur and Louis, joined the family business, and later his son Herman from his second marriage. This allowed Fred to turn his attention to other interests. Among those interests were the German Savings Bank of Omaha, Omaha Turner’s Society, and the Nebraska Senate after being elected to office in 1871 and 1885.

After outgrowing its home at 6th and Leavenworth, Fred’s sons built a new, larger facility immediately south in 1899. It allowed the brewery to employ 50 men while producing more than 60,000 barrels of beer per year. Metz had grown significantly over the years and earned its place among the city’s top four breweries alongside Krug, Storz, and Willow Springs. Despite Fred’s death in 1901, the brewery continued to thrive until 1917, when the State of Nebraska enacted prohibition.

After prohibition was repealed in 1933, a new brewery called Fontenelle set up shop at 3rd and Hickory Streets in a facility that had belonged to Willow Springs. In 1936, Fontenelle bought the familiar Metz name, one of the city’s most recognized beer brands. Fontenelle continued to brew under the Metz name for the next 25 years. When Metz 2.0 closed in 1961, they sold the name to Walter Brewing Company in Pueblo, Colorado, which kept it alive until 1972.

While the original Metz Brothers Brewing Company no longer stands, the old Willow Springs turned Metz facility at 3rd and Hickory Street remains, though it has clearly seen better days.

The Metz name made a third comeback in 2018 when Bill Baburek of Crescent Moon and Infusion Brewing Company bought it and revived the Metz Jubilee brand using a different recipe. More than 165 years later, it serves as a connection to Omaha’s brewing past.

This is part of a series in which we explore the history of Omaha’s breweries past and present.

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