Portner’s Beer For Everybody

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By the end of the 19th century several breweries maintained branches, which distributed beer bottled at their headquarters, in Wilmington, NC. One of the first to open such an operation in Wilmington was Robert Portner's Brewing Company located in Alexandria, Va.     During the latter half of the nineteenth century large breweries, primarily owned by German emigrants operating in the Midwest, began pushing the boundaries of their local markets. Due in large part to Louis Pasteur's work culminating in pasteurization, a process that stops microbial growth using heat, breweries were able to ship bottled beer to markets further away without fear of spoilage. According to historian Maureen Ogle both the Anheuser family and the Busch family began shipping pasteurized beer from St. Louis by 1872. Another innovation, refrigerated rail cars, opened the way for non-pasteurized kegs of beer to be transported by the late 1870s.  Robert Portner opened a branch bottling opera...
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Wilmington's First Brewery

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May 12, 1807 - The Wilmington Gazette

       In May, 1807 The Wilmington Gazette ran an ad by Henry Gunnisson notifying the citizens of Wilmington that he opened a brewery in the city. Located in Wilkinson's Alley, the alley that is now between Coastal Vibe and The Italian Gourmet Market, Gunnisson hoped to sell "Malt Beer by the Barrel, Keg or Bottle." There is a historic plaque in the alley that memorializes a rum distillery owned by William Wilkinson which operated there sometime in the late 18th century. Perhaps the distillery site became Gunnisson's brewery.

       Today you can still walk down that alley to get a drink at Blue Post Billiards. This would appear to be the first brewery established in Wilmington. Early Inns and Ordinaries likely brewed their own beer for in house sales and likely for neighborhood purchase, but not run solely as production breweries as it seems Gunnisson is advertising.

       Little else is known about Gunnisson or his brewery, whether it operated for very long or how good his beer was. He does not appear in the census of 1800 and the census of 1810 for New Hanover County has been lost. What brought Gunnisson to Wilmington and how long he stayed and operated his brewery are probably lost.

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