Craft beverages have been part of Alexandria’s story since George Washington operated a whiskey distillery just down the road. Port City Brewing Company in the West End is one of the most decorated craft breweries in the region, with award-winning beers available at restaurants and pubs across the city or straight from the source at the taproom. While you’re in the West End, sample creative small-batch brews at Aslin Beer Company and craft spirits at Motherwell Distilling Co., Alexandria’s only locally operating distillery within the beltway. Then continue your tour to the Carlyle neighborhood, where Lost Boy Cider, Northern Virginia’s first urban cidery, pours 20 different ciders on draft made from 100% Virginia apples.
Find Your Next Pour
Browse Alexandria’s full lineup of breweries, cideries and distilleries below. From award-winning craft beer and Virginia apple ciders to locally crafted spirits, the city’s beverage makers welcome visitors at their taprooms and tasting rooms throughout the week. Check individual listings for hours and events before your visit.
Plan Your Ride
When exploring Historic King Street, you can hop on and off the free King Street Trolley, which runs from the King St-Old Town Metrorail station to the waterfront seven days a week. To explore neighborhoods beyond Old Town, take the city’s free DASH bus service. Find route schedules or a DASH bus service map here.
Rideshare options, including Uber and Lyft, are convenient and readily available in Alexandria. As always, please drink responsibly.
Brief History of Beer in Alexandria
Established in 1749, this bustling port town brimmed with Scottish merchants and Irish immigrants. Because public drinking water didn’t yet exist, people quenched their thirst with beer, a staple of 18th-century life and the preferred beverage of dockworkers, shipwrights, sailors and families alike.
Alexandria was home to the largest pre-Prohibition brewery in the south, and one of the most historically relevant breweries in U.S. history, the Robert Portner Brewing Company.
Also known as the Tivoli Brewery, which brewed from 1862-1916, the Robert Portner Brewing Company closed when Virginia passed the 18th Amendment and Prohibition ensued. Only in 2011 would production brewing return to Alexandria, with the arrival of Port City Brewing Company.
