MNN - Mother Nature Network

I was telling some friends we were visiting earlier this week about my trip last fall to the White House to tour the kitchen garden. They were most interested in the White House bees, the honey they create, and the beer that comes from that honey, White House Honey Ale.

 

I told them that regular people can’t get a taste of the ale. It’s not sold anywhere. One “regular” person did get a bottle of the White House Honey Ale this past Tuesday, though. According to MSNBC, the president gave a bottle to someone he had struck up a beer conversation with at a coffee shop while he was on a bus tour of Iowa.

 

At the Iowa State Fair that the president stopped at on the same trip, the president says supporters were yelling “four more beers” instead of the traditional “four more years” that a first-term president hears when he’s campaigning for re-election. Beer has always been associated with this president from the famous beer summit early on his presidency, to what beers he choses to serve to guests, to the White House Honey Ale.

 

One question I’ve heard that people who are undecided get asked during a presidential election is “Who would you rather have a beer with.” For those undecideds who would actually pick a president based on who would make a better conversationalist at the bar, President Obama is the better bet of the two main candidates. Mitt Romney abstains from alcohol because he is a Mormon.

 

The White House Honey Ale is the first known beer that’s been brewed at The White House. The Obamas don’t brew the beer themselves. Their kitchen staff brews it, using honey gathered from the beehives pictured above. It gets served to guests at the White House from time to time, and apparently the Obamas take it on the road with them when they travel.

 

Just an aside, before someone comments about their tax dollars supporting a brewery in the White House, NPR reports that the Obamas paid for all of the beer making equipment themselves.

 

I’d like to get my hands on a bottle of White House Honey Ale to see what it tastes like. Would you?