We didn’t cover it last week because we had a little thing called DC Beer Week to cover, but the big story last week in the beer world was that President Obama (who is welcome to do a “Have a Beer With…” interview with us here at his adopted hometown’s favorite craft beer news resource, by the way) is a fan of “microbrews.” That news comes to us from The Washington Post, which eschews the more contemporary appellation of “craft beer” for the oh-so-late 90s-into-early 00s “microbrew.”
How do we know that Mr. Obama likes craft beer? From the article:
Obama likes microbrews, too — so much so that he bought a beer-
making kit (with personal funds) for the White House. The kitchen staff has made three varieties so far: White House Honey Ale, White House Honey Blonde Ale and White House Honey Porter. All are made with honey from Michelle Obama’s kitchen garden.
But there’s some mystery surrounding the suds because White House Press Secretary Jay Carney “did not divulge more about the brewery, such as who the brewmaster is or exactly when the brewery was set up.”
Well, some homebrewers are hoping to find out more about these Pennsylvania Avenue beers and have started a petition to release the recipe.
The petition reads:
Following in the footsteps of great men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, Barack Obama has reportedly been enjoying the rewards of home brewed beer. Recent reports from news outlets like the Washington Post (August 15th, 2012) have stated that Obama has been drinking a White House home brew Honey Ale while on the campaign trail.
In keeping with the brewing traditions of the founding fathers, homebrewers across America call on the Obama Administration to release the recipe for the White House home brew so that it may be enjoyed by all.
“I think it’s time for beer” -Franklin D. Roosevelt (March 12, 1933)
The petition’s creators are trying to collect 25,000 signatures by September 17, but as of this writing there are just 240 signatories. Your humble writer signed the petition. Although registering for just one more thing online is a pain, the effort to sign up to sign the petition was relatively minimal as far as these things go.
So if you want to be able to brew presidentially, go ahead and sign and have your friends sign too.
Oh, and to anyone at EEOB who is a craft beer fan and within a few degrees of separation to POTUS, feel free to pass along our offer to have a brew day at Mr. Obama’s leisure. We’ll bring the hops to brew with and the sours to sip on!
