Port City Brewing’s Bill Butcher Lobbies Capitol Hill

Alexandria, VA – Bill Butcher, co-founder of Port City Brewing Company, advocated on Capitol Hill alongside industry peers in July, urging lawmakers to address the rising costs that are challenging small craft breweries nationwide.

With a cheerful rallying cry—“We gotta fight for your right to party!”—Butcher pressed Congress to tackle key legislative concerns, including tariffs on imported hops and grains, high credit‑card processing fees, and restrictive shipping regulations that disproportionately impact local brewers.

“As many brewers import European hops and grains for beers like Oktoberfest and Porter,” Butcher explained, “tariffs on those raw ingredients could seriously hurt production costs.”

Butcher, who launched Port City Brewing in 2011 in Alexandria with his wife Karen, is also a board member of the Brewers Association. He reported that 86 member breweries joined the lobby effort and conducted 187 meetings with lawmakers and staff to advance the craft‐beer agenda

Key legislative priorities include reform under the Credit Card Competition Act to reduce processing fees and proposals to permit the U.S. Postal Service to ship beer, which could open new direct‑to‑consumer channels for local breweries.

Butcher noted strong support from Virginia’s congressional delegation, including Senators Warner, Kaine, and Representative Don Beyer, on manufacturing, trade, and freight issues.