In 1849 , August Krug founded a brewery in the Milwaukee area . In its first year of operations it produced 150 barrels of beer . A year later he hired Joseph Schlitz as his bookkeeper . When Krug died unexpectedly at the end of 1856 , Schlitz took over the managing operations of the business and married Krug 's widow in 1858 . During this early period the brewery had a capacity of 2,000 barrels . In 1861 , the brewery was renamed Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company . During the civil war , demand rose for the company and business increased to 4,400 barrels annually . The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 furthered opportunity for demand for the brewer when the brewing industry in Chicago was wiped out . In 1873 , the company expanded by purchasing the Pfiefer Brewery that was located within the city . During this time period , Schlitz was the second-leading brewer ( 5,430 barrels ) in the city behind Pabst ( 9,763 barrels ) . By 1875 , the company was producing 74,000 barrels of beer annually . While traveling to Germany , the ship Schlitz was traveling on sank and he was presumed dead . Schlitz 's nephews , the Uihlein 's , took over the operations thereafter . By 1878 , the company produced 102,538 barrels of beer , or stated another way , over two million bottles of beer . By 1879 , production for the company doubled . During this time period , beer was shipped by the company throughout the United States , Mexico , Central America , and Brazil . By 1886 , the company was producing 500,000 barrels annually of which 1/6th was consumed locally . In 1893 the company introduced its successful advertising campaign " The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous "
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Beer in Milwaukee