White House brews?

[chimay5]

Just saw a news story at BoomanTribune.com about beers being brewed in the White House. Says the Obama's bought the equipment and that a White House cooking staffer is the brewmaster. He evidently is using among other things honey from bee hives kept there in a couple of the beers. Without being political, looks like we have a populist Prez.

[eethan]

And now people are agitating to get the recipe(s).

News story: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/a-petition-to-the-white-house-give-up-the-beer-recipe/

Petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/peti...

[Ruth Lafler]

And they have done so: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/0...

[Josh]

I think as foodies politics are important. There are many political decisions made which have a direct impact on foods we can eat and beverages we can drink. I think it's great that the Obamas support home gardening, healthy eating, and home brewing, Thomas Jefferson brewed his own beer, it's fitting that the White House should be doing it.

[Tripeler]

Likely that Thomas Jefferson had his household staff do the homebrewing, but the fact that homebrewing is now going on in The White House is quite a powerful symbol for the practice.

[JessKidden]

Jefferson's brewing at Monticello came during his retirement, after his time as president and he had Peter Hemings (household staff member aka "slave") trained in the craft. The Monticello website has a good write-up on the topic at http://beeradvocate.com/community/thr...

[Tripeler]

Jess,
Thank you for the information. As I have said, President Obama's support for homebrewing is, uh, unprecedented and a good sign for craft beer in general. The only other recent president who would have supported it is Clinton, possibly Carter. Could you imagine homebrew from the Nixon White House? Or G.W. Bush? I certainly can't.

[LStaff]

Without trying to get too political here (I don't support any political parties), I find it curious that this year + old "news" suddenly springs up again after his opponent's VP hopeful mentions beer to enthusiastic applauds in his coming out speech. Populist or some other P word? lol.

[Tripeler]

Likely not much better than most home brew, but the symbolism is powerful. Definitely support for homebrewing and craft beer -- certainly nothing wrong with that.

[Shaggy]

I don't know, it's probably better than what I can make. I think it's great that he's into this (apparently they makes a light and a dark beer). Am I the only one who was a little disappointed when he was drinking Red Stripe during his sit down with Joe the Plumber?

[The Professor]

Funny...I've tasted a lot of homebrew that was a good deal _better_ than a LOT of the stuff on the store shelves these days.
If that White House chef knows what he's doing (and I'm guessing that he probably does) I'd bet that the WH brew is probably pretty decent.

[LStaff]

I hate that homebrew gets a bad rap while bad commercial beer is just assumed to be of better quality just due to its commercial nature - yes there is a whole lot of bad homebrew being made by those without a lot of experience (as well as commercial beer), but some of the best beers I have ever had have been brewed at home. It all comes down to brewers skill, experience, knowledge, dedication, and tasting abilities.

[GH1618]

It would be better to feature American craft beers at the White House rather than homebrew, I think.

[hawkeyeui93]

If he did, could you imagine the criticism he would receive if he picked one American Craft Beer over another? Anarchy, my friend. Anarchy!

[GH1618]

I would expect the WH to rotate its stock. In a four-year term they could represent everybody, I think.

[LStaff]

With 2,000+ breweries in the US now (and almost 400 planned to open next year) you would have to showcase almost two breweries a day...

And where do you think the majority of current craft brewers go their start? That's right, homebrewing.

[hawkeyeui93]

He even gave out a bottle at a campaign stop in Iowa a few days ago. Quite the news story here in Iowa [and it regrettably brought out the scorn of his political opponents in the comment section of the Des Moines Register] ... http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps...