Hedrick Lager and Ale Phone Case

As far as Albany goes, we do know that Prussian-born Frederick Hinckel and Bavarian-born John Hedrick both opened breweries in Albany in 1852, the earliest Central European immigrant-owned breweries in the city. What we don't know is if those breweries opened as ale breweries or lager breweries. They may have been brewing Bavarian-style Weiss Bier. As the 1850s wore on, circumstantial references to lager brewing in Albany appears, but nothing noting a named brewery. In 1857, Templeton's—a furniture store on Albany's main drag, Broadway, advertised refrigerators for sale. Suitable for, as the ad expresses, "Grocers, Butchers, and Lager Beer purposes."