Meet David Keuhner

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Keuhner.

Hi David, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
After many years of being in the wine, craft beer, and hospitality industry, we decided a few years ago to buy a 27-acre farm in Lovettsville, VA west of Washington, DC. This would eventually be the home of One Family Brewing & Farm. Throughout my career, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the most amazing people and many of those people have become family.

It dawned on me one day that I wanted to call ourselves One Family Brewing. You don’t have to be blood-related to be family. In good times and bad times as a family, we come together. Whether it’s supporting each other when times are hard or celebrating each other’s success! You think about how the word family is used. Whether you’re in the military, law enforcement, a member of a team or you’re running a business, you truly do become a family.

This all came true for me on Sept. 11th, 2001. I was a member of a new company we had started called “Fishbowl” in Alexandria, VA. We had a technology that we believe would revolutionize how the restaurant industry would handle loyalty and database marketing, but the problem was we didn’t have much money. Times were hard and we had to watch every penny!

I was scheduled to be on the flight that eventually ended up crashing into the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. My wife was pregnant with my son when the plane went over her head while she was sitting in rush hour traffic and hit the Pentagon. I had changed my flight to a three-stop Southwest flight out of BWI.

When that horrific and tragic day occurred, I was in the middle of the flight. We had touched down in Nashville, I changed plans and then about 30 minutes later the captain came on the speaker and said, “FAA has told us to stop all flight operations, we must land immediately.”

Passengers started picking up the phones on the plane (Back then flights had phones!) and calling their loved ones, their office, and friends to see what was going on. One passenger said at a high pitch, “The US is being bombed.” I thought this is impossible who the hell would bomb the US?!

I ended up in Nashville at the Hilton Hotel at the Nashville Predators arena for 7 days. I couldn’t talk to my wife, my mother, or my office for nearly six hours. Nobody knew where I was. Needless to say, that day changed my life.

I started dedicating myself to doing something bigger than myself. I wanted to give back, but I wasn’t sure how. My family has a lifelong history of serving our country dating back to my Great Grandfather. Over 75 years of combined service through the Navy, Air Force, and Army (I have a bunch of Marine friends now!).

As a family, we started to volunteer more, and I started to meet a lot of families, soldiers, and Marines that had sacrificed so much for our country since 9/11.

One is a Tennessee native USMC CPL Christian Brown. Christian was awarded the Silver Star for his efforts in Afghanistan on December 7th, 2011, when he raced to save the life of LCPL Christopher Jacob Levy who had been shot in the head by a sniper.

One week after Christian’s heroic efforts, Christian stepped on an IED and lost half of his body. I’ve had the pleasure over the years of spending a lot of time with Christian, his family, and friends at Walter Reed Hospital.

Christian taught my family and I what service and sacrifice truly mean. Truly, has been a blessing and has defined the meaning of “One Family”.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Struggles are real. It’s about managing money, expectations, and patience. Operating a farm, a brewing project, and operating our nonprofit One Family Gives is about balance. You just never know what will come up. It’s a matter of taking a deep breath and solving the challenge.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It takes patience, an understanding spouse as well as understanding kids! You’re constantly thrown curve balls and it’s a matter of staying back on the curve and hitting the ball (my son plays college baseball!).

Being 52 years old, I’ve experienced a lot. I’ve had the ultimate pleasure of building brands, and being a part of innovative technology and yet all of them have been new startups. Being able to convince someone or a company that your product or your service is worth it. That’s HARD and it takes a lot of money and patience.

I’m most proud of being a dad and a husband. It’s hard to balance life and work. I don’t believe I’m the best at it, but I do my best to manage it. I’ve told my wife my biggest fear in life is not failing, it’s about my children remembering me. Remembering me for who I am and what I’ve been able to do for their lives.

I lost my father when I was six years old, and my wife lost her father when she was five years old. Unfortunately, we don’t remember those times. I don’t have that fear anymore. My kids are 18 and 20 years old. I’m super proud to be their dad and I’m proud to be a husband.

What makes you happy?
That’s a great question. I believe happiness is different during different times of your life. I’m happy knowing I’m making a difference in someone’s life and that my kids are on the path to being amazing contributors to society.

My son wants to be an orthopedic surgeon and my daughter wants to be a nurse (she’s attending the University of Tennessee Nursing School!).

Contact Info:

• Email: info@onefamilybrewing.com
• Website: www.onefamilybrewing.com
• Instagram: @onefamilybrewing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneFamilyBrewing
• Twitter: @onefamilybrew
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzdsMq2o2b2-_mqvGoty1xw

Image Credits
Andrew Sample Photography