WASHINGTON — State and local grant money will keep Port City Brewing in Alexandria and help pay for a $2.7 million expansion for the five-year-old craft brewer.
Port City said that in addition to greatly expanding its production capacity, it will bring on 26 new employees and will source 75 percent of its agricultural produce needs from Virginia producers.
Port City, the oldest packaging brewery in the Washington area, currently distributes throughout the Mid Atlantic. The expansion will allow the company to more than double production and to meet demand in existing markets and enter new ones.
“My family has been in Virginia since the 1700s, and in Alexandria since 1908,” said Port City president and CEO Bill Butcher. “I’m also very proud that we used Virginia grown wheat in our best-selling and most-awarded beer, Optimal Wit.”
Alexandria saw value in keeping Port City from relocating.
“Each bottle of Port City beer boasts our city’s name,” said Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberg.
Port City is getting a $250,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which Alexandria will match with local funds.
