Port City Brewing Company is a

craft brewery Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

located in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

. It is the first production brewery to operate in Alexandria since

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

, when the Robert Portner Brewing Company closed its doors. Port City was named the 2015 ''Small Brewing Company of the Year'' at the

Great American Beer Festival The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is an annual beer festival hosted by the Brewers Association, held in Denver, Colorado. Typically held in late September or early October, the event is currently held at Denver's Colorado Convention Center. ...

History

Bill Butcher Port City Pours Beer (12271207834)

Port City Brewing Company was founded by Bill and Karen Butcher, a former fine wine sales manager and intellectual property attorney respectively. The couple found that the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area did not have enough high quality, locally produced craft beer and chose to open a brewery in Alexandria, where the Butcher family has been based for generations. To spearhead brewing operations, the couple hired Jonathan Reeves, an accomplished brewer with over a decade of experience and numerous awards to his name, including several GABF medals. When the company opened its doors in February 2011, it was the first production inside the

Beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

since the road’s construction in 1961. Since its founding, Port City has garnered a number of awards, including 13 medals at the Great American Beer Festival, 12 Good Food Awards, and 23 medals at the Virginia Craft Brewers Festival. On June 29, 2012, Port City lost power due to the

June 2012 North American derecho The June 2012 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest derecho was one of the deadliest and most destructive fast-moving severe thunderstorm complexes in North American history. The progressive derecho tracked across a large section of the Midwestern United Sta ...

. The power was out long enough that a Czech-style Pilsner finished primary fermentation at higher than normal temperatures and had the flavor profile of a

steam beer Steam beer is a highly effervescent beer made by fermenting lager yeasts at warmer ale yeast fermentation temperatures. It has two distinct but related meanings: *Historic steam beer produced in California, and in the East at the James River St ...

(also called California Common); they were able to save four of five tanks after possibly having to lose 13,000 gallons of beer. Every year since then, they've produced Derecho Common as a summer seasonal. In 2012, founder Bill Butcher was invited to address the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

on the subject of the

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

administration's relationship with the small business community. Butcher attracted the campaign's attention by appearing in a video promoting the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

, which helped get him a

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and stren ...

-backed loan.

References

External links

Port City Brewing site
{{Coord, 38, 48, 28.8, N, 77, 6, 5.3, W, display=title Beer brewing companies based in Virginia Companies based in Alexandria, Virginia American companies established in 2011 Food and drink companies established in 2011 2011 establishments in Virginia