White House Beer

President Obama with a bottle of Goose Island 312 Wheat, which he gave to British PM David Cameron.

If you haven’t heard already, it’s time you know:  President Barack Obama has a home-brew set-up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, aka, The White House.  Details are a little unclear at the moment, as to who actually does the brewing, but the home brewery produces a light and dark ale, made with honey collected from hives near the First Lady’s garden on the White House grounds.

The beer came to light yesterday when President Obama gave a bottle to a coffee shop patron on a campaign stop; apparently he travels with it on the tour bus.  White House Spokesman Jay Carney confirmed the beer’s existence and said he had drank one of the light varieties and enjoyed it, though he admits he is not a beer “aficionado”.

Obama has various stories associated to beer, including betting a case of Yuengling vs a case of Canadian pending the outcome of the hockey final in the last winter Olympics with PM Harper (proving definitively which country has a cooler head of state). Because of Crosby’s OT winner, he had to buy Harper a 24 of Canadian, but threw in a a case of Yuengling too (full story at The Star).

Allow me to editorialize for a moment:  What an awesome guy.  Sure, he’ll drink Bud Lite at state fairs with the locals, but he supports craft breweries like Yuengling, Goose Island (yeah, I know they’re ABIB now), and even has his own beer made with ultra-local ingredients at the White House.

*** UPDATE ***

The Salt, the NPR’s food blog actually reported on the beer last year, and at the time confirmed that it was kitchen staff who prepared the beer, so that at least answers that question.  Also, it notes that after some level of historical scrutiny, it is clear that Obama is the first president to actually have beer brewed at the White House.  Even Thomas Jefferson, a brewer himself, never seemed to brew at 1600 Pennsylvania.