Pearl Brewing Company
The Pearl Brewing Company (also known as the Pearl Brewery or just Pearl) was an American brewery, established in 1883 in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. In 1985, Pearl's parent company purchased the Pabst Brewing Company and assumed the Pabst name. In 1999, the Pabst Brewing Company began transferring its production to Miller Brewing, on a contract basis, and closing all of its breweries. Pearl beer is still in production at Miller's Ft. Worth, Texas facility, but the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio was closed in 2001. Since then, the former brewery was purchased by Silver Ventures, Inc., which has made the property the crown jewel in revitalization efforts of southern Midtown and northern Downtown San Antonio.
Robert Portner
In 1883, Portner had his brewery incorporated and sold shares of stock to his most successful employees. The first Board of Directors included himself as President, Paul Muhlhauser as Vice-President, Charles A. Strangmann as Secretary & Treasurer, and C. G. Herbort & B. Edward J. Eils. Over the next thirty-three years the brewery expanded and grew to cover two full city blocks and all the latest technological advancements. Depots and bottling houses throughout the South helped to expand the brewery's network, reaching as far south as Augusta, Georgia, Georgia (U.S. state). Ultimately the brewery closed when Prohibition took effect in Virginia in 1916. Portner's sons tried to keep the company alive by changing the name to the Virginia Feed & Milling Corporation and converting the brewery into a feed and grain business but did not fare nearly as well, and the company was out of business by 1930.