White House brewing its own beer

[Jimmy]

U.S. President Barack Obama has asked his staff to brew beer in the White House.

The blog Obama Foodoramaa, which reports on Obama's food initiatives, said this week the president and First Lady asked their chefs to take up the popular hobby. The couple presented the first batch of the homebrew -- the White House Honey Ale -- to guests at their SuperBowl party in February. Close to 100 bottles were produced and there were no leftovers after the party.

White House curator Bill Allman told the blog there is no record of beer brewing at the White House but Obama is not the first president to craft his own brews.

George Washington was also a well-known homebrewer, but he never lived in the White House.

While Obama won't be rolling up his sleeves himself, the fact the White House is getting involved in the homebrewing movement is being praised by people like Suzanne Schalow, co-owner of the Craft Beer Cellar in Boston.

"It's awesome that they're home brewing," she told the Boston Herald in February.

The honey ale won't be the only beer produced by the White House. East Wing spokesman Semonti Stephens told the Obamafoodorama blog this week it is "very safe to assume" the White House will brew more beer in the future.

Obama is known for his love of beer. He and Prime Minister Stephen Harper each wagered a case of beer on the outcome of the 2010 Olympic men's hockey final. After Canada has won the gold, Obama gave Harper a case of Molson Canadian. If the U.S. had won, Harper would have owed Obama a case of Yuengling beer.

At the G20 summit in Toronto last June, he and British Prime Minister David Cameron traded bottles of suds to settle a bet on the U.S.-U.K. World Cup soccer game. In July, Obama also said he and Cameron discussed beer.

"We have just concluded some excellent discussions -- including whether the beers from our hometowns that we exchanged are best served warm or cold. My understanding is that the prime minister enjoyed our 312 beer and we may send him some more. I thought the beer we got was excellent -- but I did drink it cold," Obama said after their July 20 meeting.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2 ... ird%20news

[moxie]

Now that is a pro brewer's dream job right there...

[jason.loxton]

The WH has been pushing a local food agenda (probably at least in part inspired by this, amongst others things: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magaz ... icy-t.html) and this is likely part of that. But, Obama is apparently a beer lover, and given that the constant attempts to spin him as "elitist" have led him in the past to drink crap beer in public (remember the craziness surrounding the Beer Summit? Obama wisely choose to drink Bud Lite: http://www.slate.com/id/2223756/), I wonder whether his homebrewing is a sly way to get to drink good beer without out being labeled a "microbrew guy"?

[chalmers]

He also has also pimped Goose Island in the past, a great craft brewery from Chicago, so I think he has some beer chops.

[moxie]

I would love to see some shots of the rig they are using... I can imagine they are a bit more sophisticated than a cooler MLT and an Ale Pail.