Port City Brewing Co. on 'CBS This Morning'

Alexandria craft brewery featured in a story about the beer market and the growth of small, independent beer companies.

Alexandria's Port City Brewing Co. was featured Tuesday morning on "CBS This Morning" in a David-veruss-Goliath story about small breweries and the beer behemoths. Last week, the Department of Justice sued to prevent Anheuser-Busch InBev from acquiring Groupo Model, which makes Corona. The acquisition would have essentially given AB InBev control of more than 50 percent of the beer market in the United States, The Washington Post reported this weekend. The proposed acquisition brought to light the difficulties small, craft brewers have gaining a foothold in the market. Craft beers make up just 6 percent of the market in the United States by volume—but demand is picking up. Bill Butcher, founder of the of Port City Brewing Company, told CBS…

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Port City's Butcher to Speak at Democratic National Convention

Brewery owner Bill Butcher scheduled to address convention after 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Port City Brewing Company founder Bill Butcher is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night. Butcher, a longtime Alexandrian, is one of several businessmen taking the stage in Charlotte, N.C., ahead of U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former President Bill Clinton. According to CBSnews.com, Butcher and the others could potentially counter the “we built it” phrase the Republicans employed at their convention last week in Tampa, Fla., to express what they believe is an anti-business philosophy from President Obama.   Butcher is scheduled to speak between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. In February, the Obama administration produced a video on Butcher and Port City as an example of how the …

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Port City Brewing Company Has Close Call After Power Outages

Alexandria company could have lost thousands of gallons of beer following last Friday's derecho storm.

Power outages from last week's storm could have caused Port City Brewing Company to lose thousands of gallons of beer. The brewing company in Alexandria was without power from Friday, June 29 until Thursday morning. There was no backup generator in place. “Our brewer, in his 17 years of experience, had never lost a batch of beer from a power outage before,” said Bill Butcher, the brewery's founder. “Because of that and because the systems are very expensive, we chose not to buy a backup generator.” Butcher said the company was able to rent a generator to keep its “critical systems” operational and keep tanks containing beer temperature-controlled. All other aspects of the business, such as the tasting room, were shut down until Thursday. …

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White House Showcases Alexandria's Port City Brewing

The Obama administration turns the spotlight on Port City as an example of how the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act helps small businesses.

Bill Butcher, owner of Port City Brewing, stars in a White House video explaining the difficulties in getting financing to get his business started but how a local bank aware of new government loan programs came to his aid. In the video "Faces of Change: Bill's Small Business Loan," Butcher said he spoke with 10 banks a few years ago and found it "discouraging." The bank that finally wanted to "work with us" was a local bank aware of Small Business Administration loans "that really helped us a lot" and "saved us thousands of dollars," he said. The bank was aware of new programs the administration put in because of the Recovery Act, Butcher said, adding that his business is now growing as is his distributor's business. The connection …

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Port City's Butcher Talks Taqueria, Changes in Del Ray

Brewery owner is a lifelong Del Ray resident.

Port City Brewing Keeps Growing

Alexandria brews now available at more than 460 restaurants and retailers in the region.

Bill Butcher is a busy man these days. With his Port City Brewing products available in more than 180 restaurants and 280 retailers in Virginia, the District and now Maryland, he’s doing all he can to keep up with demand. When he ventured into brewing more than a year ago, Butcher, a longtime Alexandrian, knew there was a pent up demand for local brew. After all, the Washington region was one of very few in the country without its own local brewery. “I figured everyone would try [our beer] once because we’re local, but we had to be world class for people to come back,” he said. People have been coming back. Butcher said about 6,000 tours of the facility have been made since it opened in February. Customers routinely drop in each week to …

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Erinn Colaianni

4:18 pm on Thursday, October 6, 2011

Bill is a super nice guy - we had my husband's birthday party here and we had such a great time. Everyone should go when they are giving tours - it is really a cool operation.   more ›