The Beer Summit

[aggienaut]

   So the so-called "White House Beer Summit" occurred today. As a beer commentator I would of course be remiss not to offer some analysis on this.

   However, it appears a number of different political commentary blogs have already thoroughly analyzed it, so instead I'll just point you to the best of those that I have found.

   The basic breakdown is this. Beer choices:

Barack Obama	Bud Light
Sgt. Crowley	Blue Moon
Professor Gates	Red Stripe

   For a summit on racial undertones, the choices were actually rather unfortunate. Red Stripe is a Jamaican lager, Jamaica being a country of almost entirely black population. Blue Moon, a product of the Coors brewing company, is a Belgian Ale ... specifically a Belgian White Ale. Hrmmmmmm oops.

   Anyway, the above linked more thorough review is worth the read in my opinion.


   There was also another one that didn't really say anything new except it had Gates' second choice (Beck's) and analysis of that ("Either way, while both in the lager/pilsner/watery camp, these beers exist at the polar ends of the brand spectrum, suggesting a bifurcated sense of self ... Having trouble choosing between a Red Stripe and a Beck's is like looking up from a menu and saying to the waiter, "I can't decide between the jerk chicken or the bratwurst." Or, in Professor Gates' case, I can't decide whether to politely ask you to leave my house, or threaten to blitzkrieg your career.")


   furzicle brought up another good point though. Upon hearing of this upcoming summit the heads of the various beer companies must have looked at eachother and said "holy shit there hasn't been so prominent a drinking of a few cold ones in this country in decades! We NEED to make sure it's OUR drink they're drinking!" So in rushes the beer lobby all up in everyone involved's business ... and voila Budweiser and Coors are each there.


Beer Summits: They Can Work For YOU
   Actually, long before today's famous incident, I was already making use of the political beer summit. Back in my student government days when I was the Chief Justice of the Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD was no small potatoe, they had a $9.8 million dollar budget!) I twice used "I'll buy you a beer" to diffuse major political tensions (such as when Senator Roy tried to impeach me!), and I distinctly remember telling my successor about the tactic's usefulness.

Comments

[lotjeisgraaf.livejournal.com]

As a Belgian, I have to say ... Bud Light? Come on now, that's not a beer. I can't comment on the other two :-p

Bud Light

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I actually had a bud light not too long ago for the first time in ages, and I was astounded by how much it resembled water. In taste, consistency, mouthfeel, etc... I think it really and truly is barely more than beer flavoured water. It's the beer for people who don't really like beer I guess.

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

I was really disappointed to learn that Obama drinks Bud Light. He's got such great taste otherwise.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I doubt he habitually does -- I think he was just trying way too hard to drink the working man's beer d:

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree with this. It's the top-selling beer in the world, or so I heard once. "Gee, I'm not too sure about that Obama character, but at least he drinks my beer! Can't be all that bad if he likes his Bud LIght!"

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is people seriously think like that.

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

That's politics for ya.

[witchofthedogs.livejournal.com]

I heard it referred to on NPR today as the "White House Hops International."

I lol'ed.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Bud Light?

Also, Prof. Gates supposedly actually drank Sam Adams.

Eeew to all of the above.

Sam Adams at the Beer Summit?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Also, Prof. Gates supposedly actually drank Sam Adams.


O RLY? Scandalous! Do you know specifically which Sam Adams offering?

Re: Sam Adams at the Beer Summit?

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

I don't, sadly. I'd feel better about him if it was the Summer Ale, which I find more tolerable than the regular.

Sam Adams in general is better than Bud or Coors-- but neither of them hold a candle to Killians.

Re: Sam Adams at the Beer Summit?

[nightspore.livejournal.com]

But Sam Adams was a brewer and a patriot. And from Boston. I think Obama should have had the Sam Adams. If Hillary had joined them she could have had a Tsing-Tao: suck up to the Chinese. This post was great.

Re: Sam Adams at the Beer Summit?

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

LOL! Good point!

Re: Sam Adams at the Beer Summit?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I agree, Sam Adams would have been a very excellent choice. Their beer really ain't that bad either. They're a large scale producer that still has some craft cred because they make a lot of experimental brews.

And lolz at the Tsing-Tao. ;D


Oh also Biden showed up and had some non-alcohol beer (is he a recovering alcoholic? a teetotaler?)

Re: Sam Adams at the Beer Summit?

[heethen-crone.livejournal.com]

Killians is brewed by Coors. given that, it's not bad.

Re: Sam Adams at the Beer Summit?

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

I would have had them fly in a keg of Rahr Iron Thistle. (SRSLY, come to Texas and try it. It's only served three places on tap and they can't afford to bottle it.)

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Where is it again? Fort Worth? I'm very intrigued about it.

Next time you come visit Dave you should bring me a bottle :D

Also Iron Thistle is a sweet name. What kind of beer is it?

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

Fort Worth, tiny little brewery. They can't afford to bottle it because it costs something like $35,000. So they just do a few kegs and send it to two bars in the immediate area, and then serve it at their Saturday tasting that they hold for two hours. The Rahr Brewery tasting is so much fun. $5 gets you three full glasses of whichever beers you want and you get to keep the glass. They only bring out one keg of the Iron Thistle for the second hour though because it's high in alcohol content and they don't want everyone getting completely smashed and then driving home. The keg is empty in just a few minutes so you have to catch it fast.

According to their site, Iron Thistle Scottish Ale got the 2009 National Grand Champion title for Scotch and Scottish Ales at the US Beer Tasting Championships. It's SO FREAKIN GOOD.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

If I'm ever in the Fort Worth area.... speaking of which my friend pavel_lishin lives around there, I should tell him to check it out.

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

This cracked me up. I wish there was more to the story, like where this was taken. Maybe it was at the championship?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Haha that's awesome. THAT's the kind of respect a keg should be treated with :D

Speaking as an Austin resident...

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Wait, where are these places?

Re: Speaking as an Austin resident...

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

Sadly, you can't really find Rahr outside of downtown Fort Worth. It's a tiny little brewery and they can't produce enough to even make it to the eastern reaches of Fort Worth, where I live. But they win all sorts of championships with their really tasty beer. Come up here sometime and go to their Saturday tasting. It's one of my favorite things to do in town.

Re: Speaking as an Austin resident...

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

I just may do that. I haven't had an excuse to go up to Fort Worth in years, and honestly, I kinda miss it. I like the cut of its jib.

Re: Speaking as an Austin resident...

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

http://www.rahrbrewery.com/

Every Saturday from 1-3pm. You'll see people from all walks of life there - hanging out, listening to music, and having a great time. I'm starting to build a nice collection of souvenir glasses. :)

I'd recommend taking the short tour because the Rahr story is pretty cool, but you might miss the one keg of Iron Thistle. I did. But they do serve it at the Flying Saucer in downtown Fort Worth and a lot of people tend to head over there after the tasting to get more of it.

Re: Speaking as an Austin resident...

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Cool! Yeah, I'll add that to the list of tx roadtrips. Thanks!

I like this:

We no longer allow dogs - sorry.

I get the impression that there's a story there...

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Ditto on the ridiculousness of Bud Light. That's a little sad.

On the OTHER hand, this whole thing is AWESOME. I cannot tell you how much it delights me that the FRONT PAGE NEWS is the president hanging out with some guys and having a beer and talking about race. That is just. So. Cool.

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

Seriously. It's like something Teddy Roosevelt would have done. Well, not talking about race, but the sitting down with beers and discussing some politics or some shit. Because he was a cool mofo like that.

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I would like to see this trend continue. "Hey, here's this big crazy issue that's got a lot of people whipped up into a frenzy." "Hey, I know, let's sit down and talk about it like adults." BRILLIANT!

Also, I like that Biden tagged along. We were speculating on that this morning. "Hey, Barack? I, uh, heard you're having a little thing this evening, and, uh, I just wanted you to know that I've, uh, got some koozies if you need them. No? Uh, well, you know I've got some sweet REO Speedwagon tapes..."

Biden's Drinking Habits

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

And apparently Biden had some non-alcoholic beverage. Is he a recovering alcoholic or a teetotaler or something?

Re: Biden's Drinking Habits

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Apparently so! From the hivemind:

"Negative impressions of drinking alcohol in the Biden and Finnegan families and in the neighborhood led to Joe Biden becoming a teetotaler.[7][21]"

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

Okay, that just wins.

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Well, Joe Biden *is* America's sweetheart.

By the way, not to sound weird or nothin', but I notice you've got basically a ton of random photos on your lj. Ever check out riotclitshave? She might be up your alley.

[chandrielle.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thanks! If you're into the random pictures thing, you should check out breadcamesliced as well.

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome! Thanks!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Hey hey hey. She posts pictures she found on the internet -- I post pictures I took myself.

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

Y'all should start a business!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

What sort of business?

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

:D is it really? I manage to avoid most mainstream news sources so I don't see what's a headline or not.

[nationelectric.livejournal.com]

NYTimes, front page, above the fold, big old color photo in the middle of the page. AWESOME.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Nice. (: A great day in history. :D

[heethen-crone.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Profesor Gates drank the Sam Adams Imperial series. I don't much care for most of the Sam Adams line but that stuff is ....... wonderful. Unfortunately, it's a limited run and probably not even in the stores anymore. Bud Light? Bleach!

Sam Adams

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yes it is indeed good! I'd never even heard of an "imperial white" before that series. Yeah a lot of their more basic stuff is not top of the line, but I do respect Sam Adams because they do do creative things, such as the imperial line and they've done a number of other more "experimental" things (like create a tripplebock (as opposed to the more common dopplebock) ... which is much sought after because it is rare .. I've had the opportunity to try it ... it tastes EXACTLY like soy sauce!!!)