Alexandria Raises a Glass: Port City and Mieza Win Three National Beer Medals

At one national awards ceremony, two Alexandria beer makers brought home three medals—and Mieza Blendery and its founder earned a top brewery honor.

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Alexandria had three reasons to raise a glass Sunday. At the 2026 Great American Beer Festival awards in Denver, Port City Brewing Company won gold for Oktoberfest, while Mieza Blendery took silver and bronze for two barrel-aged sour beers. The festival also named Mieza and founder Alex Lynch its 0–250 Barrels Brewery and Brewer of the Year.

It was a remarkable showing for one city at one competition: an established Alexandria brewery added another gold for a familiar seasonal lager, and a newer West End blendery claimed two places on the same sour-beer podium. The awards were announced Sunday, October 11. Festival organizers say 225 judges evaluated 7,267 beer and cider entries over three days; 243 breweries and cideries received 336 medals nationwide.

Port City’s Oktoberfest won the Vienna-Style Lager category, ahead of DC Brau’s Dueling Grounds of Washington, D.C., and Almanac’s Rocktoberfest of California. Founder Bill Butcher shared a photo with his gold medal from the festival and congratulated his team “for brewing some of the best beer in the USA!”

For Port City, founded by Bill and Karen Butcher in 2011, it was a return to the top of a national podium. Its Oktoberfest previously earned festival medals in 2013, 2020 and 2023, when it also took gold. The brewery describes the 5.2% beer as a Märzen-style lager brewed with German malts and hops, served unfiltered and naturally carbonated. That is Port City’s description of the beer; Vienna-Style Lager is the competition category in which it won this year.

Mieza’s two medals came in a very different style, but at that same Oct. 11 ceremony. Sulking in The Brush won silver and Minotaurs & Matadors won bronze in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer category. Monday Night Brewing of Atlanta took gold. The festival’s separate brewery-and-brewer award recognized Mieza and Lynch in the smallest production-size bracket; it is not a third beer medal.

The honors put a spotlight on what Mieza means by blendery. Rather than aiming to reproduce one beer batch after batch, Lynch develops different beer components, including those aged in oak, then combines them to create the finished beer. Mieza explains that a component need not be balanced on its own to contribute to the final blend. The Alexandria operation focuses on saisons, mixed and spontaneous fermentation, and barrel-aged sour beers.

Lynch, a D.C. native, began brewing professionally in 2011 and bought his first wine barrel that year. His path included brewing at Lost Rhino in Ashburn, work in Bear Republic’s quality-control lab in California, and a return to Lost Rhino to manage its barrel program and lab. Mieza began through collaboration blends with Dynasty Brewing before opening its Alexandria tasting room in 2023. Its name refers to the ancient place where Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great—an idea Lynch says gave him space to express his approach to blending.

The bronze winner offers one example of that approach: Mieza described Minotaurs & Matadors in an August announcement as a barrel-aged blond blend with Virginia-grown Malbec grapes. Whether either medal-winning Mieza beer is currently on draft or available in bottles has not been confirmed.

Raise a glass in Alexandria

Port City Oktoberfest is a limited-time seasonal release, not a tasting-room exclusive. Alexandria readers can look for it on draft at local bars and restaurants and in bottles wherever Port City beer is sold; individual taps and shelves vary. Port City lists its season as July through October, and its 2026 release announcement says the beer is distributed across the Mid-Atlantic. You can also go straight to Port City’s tasting room at 3950 Wheeler Ave. for a pour or to ask about six-packs and growler or crowler fills. Call 703-797-2739 to confirm availability before making a special trip.

Mieza Blendery is at 109 Clermont Ave., near the Eisenhower Avenue Trail. Its posted tasting-room hours are Friday, 3–10 p.m.; Saturday, 1–10 p.m.; and Sunday, 1–8 p.m. It also offers bottles to go Wednesday and Thursday, 3–8 p.m. Outside food, well-behaved children and dogs are welcome. Ask Mieza which beers are available before visiting for a particular medal winner.

From an Oktoberfest lager with a fourth festival medal to two inventive sour beers and a brewery-and-brewer honor, Alexandria’s beer makers gave their hometown plenty to celebrate on the national stage.