Port City Brewing’s Bill Butcher Goes to Capitol Hill to ‘Fight for Your Right to Party’

ALEXANDRIA, VA – “We gotta fight for your right to party!” is a cheery slogan touted by Port City Brewing‘s owner Bill Butcher these days as he refers to his lobbying efforts as he keeps an eye on the financial bottom lines of his business and other small brewers during these uncertain days of looming tariffs and other costly concerns.

Butcher and a national contingent of fellow professional brewers from the Brewers Association, a nonprofit trade organization that promotes and protects small and independent American craft brewers, are concerned by growing industry challenges from the cost of imported ingredients to shipping restrictions to the current hot-potato issue of the imposition or expansion of tariffs.

“A big part of these conversations are the tariffs on imported goods. Most U.S. breweries import at least a portion of their raw ingredients for brewing,” Butcher told Zebra. “Like many brewers, Port City Brewing Company in Alexandria imports European hops and grains which go into our popular beers like Oktoberfest, Porter and others.”

While his “right to party” mantra targeting his customers’ future bar tabs may be a bit tongue in cheek, Butcher is seriously experiencing ballooning production costs which are exponentially important to the survival of the industry domestically and internationally, though Port City brand does not export its craft beers.

As a board member of the Brewer’s Association, Butcher helped organize its annual Lobbying Day on Capitol Hill, which this year took on increasing urgency with U.S. tariff negotiations in progress with trading partners around the globe. The “hill climb” is an annual event that brings member breweries from all over the country to converge on D.C. to meet with members of Congress and their staffs.

More about Port City Brewing: Port City Brewing Company’s Bill and Karen Butcher Named Grand Marshals of 2017 Alexandria St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Port City Named Business of the Year

“We had 86 member breweries represented and we had 187 meetings,” Butcher reported, calling the meetings a “successful day” for the industry. “The main issues we are working on are credit card fees, which are too high, tariffs, and some other shipping regulations which we feel dampen our potential profitability.”

Butcher added that “Port City Brewery has a very good relationship with Senators Warner and Kaine, as well as Representative Don Beyer (Virginia’s 8th District) who are aware of manufacturing and transportation issues of major concern to small brewers who work to keep down the price of their brews served in thousands of breweries and restaurants around the country.”

“Some of the ongoing discussions that we are working on are the Credit Card Competition Act, which will allow more competitors in the credit card processing business. We believe that this will help lower fees charged by the credit card companies,” Butcher noted as he touched on a variety of other issues faced by brewers and others in the restaurant industry.

“We are also in favor of proposed legislation that would allow USPS being allowed to ship our beers, which would help us reach customers that might not otherwise be able to enjoy our products. Currently, we have to ship via UPS or FedEx ,” he explained.

For Bill Butcher, it’s not just about hops and barley—it’s about making sure the good times, and the good beers, keep flowing at affordable prices.