Obama releases secret ale ingredients

Bowing to growing pressure from thirsty and curious US citizens in both parties, the White House released the recipes for President Barack Obama’s homemade beers, revealing the executive branch’s penchant for
honey-flavoured brews.

In a blog post on Saturday entitled “Ale to the Chief,” White House Assistant Chef and Senior Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass said that “with public excitement about White House beer fermenting such a buzz, we decided we better hop right to it.”

“Inspired by home brewers from across the country, last year President Obama bought a home brewing kit for the kitchen” at the White House, the chef explained.

“To be honest, we were surprised that the beer turned out so well since none of us had brewed beer before,” Kass wrote.

“George Washington brewed beer and distilled whiskey at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson made wine, but there’s no evidence that any beer has been brewed in the White House,” he continued.

Obama bought his own brewing kit in January last year and decided he wanted to start making beer on the White House grounds, said Al Jazeera’s Cath Turner in Washington, DC.

The president had only served his beer to White House guests until a couple of weeks ago when he was campaigning in Iowa, Turner said.

“He decided to pull out a beer from the campaign bus and share it with a man he had just met in that state. And that got all the White House reporters excited.”

Secret recipe

The key ingredient for the White House Honey Brown Ale and the White House Honey Porter, though, may be tough to come by – the honey is straight from the White House’s first-ever beehive.

Kass wrote that the “honey gives the beer a rich aroma and a nice finish but it doesn’t sweeten it.”

However, Brandon Skall, the chief executive of local brewery DC Brau, said it would “pump up the alcohol and give it some sweetness.” 

The ale would likely pair well with a spicy and savoury dish such as pork tenderloin or roast duck, said Skall, who added he would like to make the beers in his District of Columbia brewery. The porter would work well with a dessert or even floated with ice cream, he added.

The recipes were released as Obama headed to campaign in Colorado, a swing state that is embracing small, independent beer producers.

The birthplace of Coors beer currently has the third highest number of craft breweries in the country, behind
only California and Washington, according to the web magazine Atlantic Cities.

Obama is now part of a growing movement – 28,835 people currently belong to the American Homebrewers Association.