Michigan Breweries History: Frankenmuth Brewery Frankenmuth Brewery started in 1862 as the Cass River/Geyer's Brewery. It became the Frankenmuth Brewing Company in 1899. It later became Carling Brewing Company, Carling-National, and G. Heileman Brewing Company which closed in 1990. In 1987, the Geyer Brothers Brewery was purchased, remodeled and opened as Frankenmuth Brewery. The Frankenmuth brewery was severely damaged by a tornado on June 21, 1996, and all brewing, bottling, retail, and tour operations stopped. However, they've built a brewpub on this site, and they reopened in June 2003 as the Frankenmuth Brewery.