Photo by Marcellina
Three-hundred-and-sixty-four days ago, the mid-Atlantic was pummeled by a derecho storm that left hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses without power. Among the businesses affected was Port City Brewing Company, which was in the dark for five days.
Modern beer-making, of course, is a process that requires electricity. But Port City, which had 13,000 gallons brewing when the derecho hit, was able to save those suds. Instead of making the lager it originally attended, the four-year-old brewery wound up with a California common, a style of beer which is made with lager ingredients but fermented at higher temperatures. And so the Derecho Common was born.
It’s one year later, and Port City is preparing to put out a re-release of the Derecho Common. The brewery will be tapping a cask of a replica of last summer’s special release tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Rustico (827 Slaters Lane, Alexandria). Meanwhile, the brewery and its tap room are open tonight for tours and tastings.
And what happened on the nearly one-year anniversary of the derecho and on the eve of the special beer’s re-release? A violent thunderstorm is sweeping through the D.C. area, and has knocked out the power to more than 33,000 customers of Dominion Power, the electric utility for Northern Virginia.
Port City Brewing Company is one of those customers. No, really. One cannot make this shit up.
“The power is out, the Internet is out,” Bill Butcher, the brewery’s founder says from his darkened beer factory. But the doors are not closed just yet. Butcher says the carbon dioxide lines in the tap rooms are still functioning, and his staff and guests are using specially branded flashlights made up for the Derecho Common re-release to navigate around the facility. It just happens to be a cash-only business for the moment.
Photo courtesy Bill Butcher
“Nothing really surprises us over here anymore after what we went through last year,” Butcher says. “‘Oh, no. Here we go again,’ was my first thought.”
But the situation is not as dire this time. Butcher says Port City’s cold room is stocked well enough to contain any temperature shifts caused by the power outage. Assuming the power is restored by tomorrow, the brewery’s precious cargo should be in good condition.
“Because there is so much mass we should be OK,” Butcher says. “All of our beer is in pretty good shape. Most everything. You just have to laugh and move on.”
