His family had for years kept the Gasthaus zur Krone, an inn. In 1850, the Tauber River flooded, flooding the inn's basement. Uihlein's grandfather, George Krug, offered to take his oldest grandson with him to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States, where Krug's son, August Krug, had a tavern and brewery. During the trip from Wertheim, their ship caught fire in the mid-Atlantic. Krug and Uihlein clasped a wooden box until rescued by sailors of the American bark, Devonshire.
Uihlein worked in the Uhrig Brewery in St. Louis from 1857 to 1867. Returning to Milwaukee in 1867, he joined what was then the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, formerly the Krug Brewery founded by his uncle August Krug in the 1840s. (Krug's widow, Anna Maria, had married Joseph Schlitz in 1858.)
On the death of Schlitz in 1875, control of the firm passed into the hands of Uihlein and his brothers.[3] When Mrs. Schlitz died in 1887, the Uihlein brothers acquired complete ownership of the corporation. Uihlein was secretary and chairman of the board (1874–1911). He was also actively involved in banking, real estate, and many other Milwaukee businesses.
Uihlein had three sons, Erwin, Joseph, and Robert, and three daughters, Ida Pabst, Mrs W. C. Brumder, and Paula Uihlein.[3] Ida, his eldest daughter, was married to Frederick Pabst Jr., son of brewer Frederick Pabst.[5] He was widowed in 1910, and moved to Heligoland, Germany to rest with family members.[3] He celebrated his 69th birthday in Switzerland.[2]
Uihlein died in 1911 in Heligoland, Germany, whose then ruler was Kaiser Wilhelm II.[2] By the time of his death, he was worth an estimated US$4 million, which was split among his six children.[6]
