(FORTUNE Magazine) – It would be like finding out that the Mona Lisa was Dutch. Or that a Spice Girl was Russian. In one of those signs that the globalization apocalypse is truly upon us, Germany's largest beer baron is (gasp!) an American. Christian Eisenbeiss, born in New York and educated at Andover, Amherst, and Columbia, is the chairman and major stockholder of Germany's largest beer company, Holsten Brauerei in Hamburg. His latest move, the acquisition of 75% of Konig-Brauerei, sent Holsten's stock price up 40% when it was announced on Jan. 18. All in all, Eisenbeiss controls companies that slake 10% of Germany's beer thirst.

It wasn't always clear that beer was in Eisenbeiss' future, though it was certainly in his blood: Both of his parents are German, and the family has had a stake in Holsten for three generations. Eisenbeiss' first professional stop, however, was Wall Street, where he toiled in the traditional dweebish manner, working 90 hours a week at Dillon Read and hoping for that big promotion and bonus. In his case, they never came.

So he left. Instead of brooding, he brewed, accepting an offer in 1985 from his father for a seat on the board of Holsten, Germany's second-largest export brand (behind Beck's). In late 1987 the elder Eisenbeiss died, and Christian Eisenbeiss, at 32, found himself elected chairman.

He was immediately threatened with loss of control of the company when Grand Metropolitan, the predecessor company to Diageo, was forced by changes in Britain's beer laws to sell its 25% stake in Holsten. The proposed buyer, the Berlin subsidiary of Credit Lyonnais, demanded seats on the board and control over policymaking.

Eisenbeiss phoned Commerzbank, which agreed to lend him the $50 million it would take to buy Grand Metropolitan's 25% block and then place it on the market, which at the time valued the shares at more than the agreed price between GrandMet and Credit Lyonnais. "I walked into the final meeting and let them harangue me for 1 1/2 hours," says Eisenbeiss. "When they were through, I said, 'Well, actually you aren't in a position to make these demands, because I bought the block of stock last night.' They got very red in the face and flew home."

That baptism by fire was followed by an expansion into the former East Germany after the Berlin Wall fell. Two acquisitions later, Holsten had a 14% share of that market and control of Lubzer Pils, one of the region's few strong local brands. That stake proved a winner when, after a brief fling with Western brands, east Germans returned to their local brews. Between 1989 and 1994, Holsten's beer volume more than doubled. Since then, it has lost only a couple of points of market share in the former East Germany while competitors without strong eastern brands have suffered.

Eisenbeiss' latest moves are the most significant. Including Konig, he has bought three breweries in the past year for a total of more than $250 million, catapulting Holsten from being Germany's No. 3 brewer to being its biggest, with volume more than trebling since he took over.

The acquisitions have also put Eisenbeiss ahead in the coming consolidation of Germany's beer market. Germany still has 800 or so small and medium-sized breweries. That situation seems unsustainable, given that beer consumption is declining as the population ages past the peak beer-drinking years of 20 to 40. "To survive and be profitable, you have to be one of the major players," says Eisenbeiss. "While there will always be more local pride than in the U.S., you are going to see a continuing trend toward national and regional concentration."

For the moment, Eisenbeiss says he has no new targets in mind and wants to pay down Holsten's debt by raising some $50 million in new equity. But he does have businesses he could sell to raise cash if he wanted to resume the acquisition game. Who knows? After all, it was one American of German descent--Adolphus Busch--who became America's dominant beermeister. Perhaps it's time for another to return the favor in Germany.

--Janet Guyon