The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce announced Monday that they have selected Bill Butcher, founder of Port City Brewing Company, as the 2018 Business Leader of the Year. He will be honored at the annual Best in Business Awards, presented by Burke & Herbert Bank, Oct. 17 at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
Butcher is a fourth-generation Alexandrian and alum of T.C. Williams High School and Alexandria City Public Schools. After graduating from James Madison University, he spent many years working with Robert Mondavi Wine Company building fine wine brands in the Mid-Atlantic market. As a longtime craft beer aficionado, Butcher watched the craft beer business evolve and become more like the fine wine business. It was this evolution that convinced him and his wife Karen to start Port City Brewing Company in 2011 in Alexandria.
Bill's expertise in fine wine sales and brand building helped him establish Port City as a leader in the D.C and Mid-Atlantic craft beer market. Port City Brewing Company has garnered national and international acclaim for its beers; at the craft beer industry's most prestigious competition, the Great American Beer Festival, the brewery earned nine medals and was named Small Brewing Company of the Year in 2015. Port City beers are distributed in eight Mid-Atlantic states, Washington, DC, the U.K., and Canada.
Butcher has shared his story of starting his brewery with several national audiences, including speaking at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, on CBS This Morning, and at the 2013 Craft Brewers Conference. In 2016, He was named Small Business Philanthropist of the Year by Volunteer Alexandria.
