The Connection

Though separated by a century and a half, Robert Portner and his great, great granddaughters Catherine and Margaret Portner have a few things in common. They all have an interest in brewing , and more importantly, they all recognize a business opportunity in Alexandria. One hundred years after The Robert Portner Brewing Company was forced to close its doors in 1916 when Alexandria adopted prohibition, the Portner family has returned to Alexandria to resurrect the family business.

It was 1864, one year before the Civil War ended, and Robert Portner’s Company began brewing. By the late 1800s, the company produced 60,000 barrels of beer each year. According to “A Seaport Saga,” a book of Alexandria history by William Francis Smith and T. Michael Miller, the Portner Company was one of Alexandria’s largest enterprises. At its peak, the company owned rail cars to spread its product and had branches in the Carolinas and Georgia.

Catherine Portner’s background is in biology and business, with a particular interest in brewing, while Margaret Portner has professional experience in food service and has had aspirations for owning her own restaurant.

“We were in a unique position to combine these aspects into a concept that utilized our talents in a way we thought the community could appreciate,” said Catherine Portner.

While Portner’s brewing company is one of his most visible legacies, Catherine Portner said he was actively involved in the city in a number of different ways.

“He’s most well known for the brewery,” said Catherine Portner, “but also opened the first German bank, had been a city councillor, and attended Abraham Lincoln’s funeral on behalf of Alexandria. He was very civically involved as a first generation immigrant.”

For both generations of Portners, opening a business came with unexpected hardships.

“It’s a continual roller coaster,” said Catherine Portner. “You just hang on and keep going, really. There are plenty of days where there’s exciting, fantastic things happening. Others where you’re scrambling because things aren’t going according to plan.”

While fortunate for the country, the end of the Civil War also meant the loss of the primary clientele for the Portner Company. For Catherine and Margaret Portner, the deal on the original location they were set to open in fell through.

“We would have been open a year earlier but it was months before we were able to locate another location,” said Catherine Portner. Originally Catherine Portner said they wanted to open in Old Town near the original location, but the tight space and restrictions on the neighborhood made it impossible to operate a brewery. In the end, the Portners decided on a location near the Van Dorn Metro Station.

“In the end, location turned out better, we’re happy with that decision,” said Catherine Portner. “There’s plenty of things you can’t necessarily plan for.”

In some ways, their new location is still historically appropriate. Catherine Portner said the neighborhood where the original Portner Brewery stood was the West End of Alexandria in its day.

“I think [Robert Portner] would have been thrilled,” said Catherine Portner. “We’ll open exactly 100 years after Robert Portner was forced to close as a direct result of prohibition, government regulation coming in and businesses being no longer allowed to operate. If that hadn’t been the case, no telling if it still would have been in existence. I can only imagine he’d be proud of us celebrating the history that he created and sharing it with the community. We’re in a unique position that my sister and I still carry the family name. We’re still Catherine and Margaret Portner.”