Charles D. Kaier was born was born Anslem Troian Kaier in the town of Binningen in the Grand Dutchy of Baden.  He was the son of a blacksmith.  The Kaier family emigrated to America when Anselm was still a late teenager.  They settled in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where his father practiced his trade and Anselm became a bakers apprentice.

When the Civil war broke out Anselm enlisted in the Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry for three months.  After his term he was honorably discharged and found a home in Mahanoy City, PA.  There he met Margaret Curry and married her on January 8th of 1863.  Their union would produce 10 children, three of whom would die before the age of 3.  It was around this time that Anselm Troian Kaier changed his name to Charles (Chas.) D. Kaier.

Margaret's father was a hotellier and restaurateur in Pottsville, and it was perhaps through him that Kaier was introduced to the liquor business.  He became the Mahanoy City agent for the Philadelphia brewery firm of Bergner & Engel, then branched out into liquors.  Kaier became a wholesale dealer, then a distiller, and finally a brewery owner.

In 1880 Chas. lured his cousin Franz Kaier to America to work as brewmaster in the new brewery he was building on east Centre Street.  He also hired future western Pennsylvania brewer Philip Henry Fuhrmann.  The brewery fluorished in tthe coal town and the name Kaier's became synonymous with quality beer and spirits.

Charles D. Kaier died on May 31st, 1899 att the age of 60.  The brewery he founded would continue under his name for nearly 70 more years, finally closing in 1968.