Michael Ulich Zahler was born in Tier, Bayern, Germany to a brewing family of seventeen children. His family emigrated to America in 1857 when Michael was seventeen years old. They settled in Ramsey County, Minnesota. In 1874 Zahler started a brewery Waconia, Minnesota. The brewery lasted about ten years. Michael Ulich Zahler died on December 16, 1911 at 71 years of age.