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Beer United States Idle

Ale To the Chief: White House Releases Beer Recipe 340

wiredmikey writes "Sam Kass, White House Assistant Chef and the Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives, after much buzz, today released the recipe for White House Honey Ale and White House Honey Porter, two brews made right on site at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. According to Kass, the White House Honey Brown Ale is the first alcohol brewed or distilled on the White House grounds, as far as they know. "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. (Although we do know there was some drinking during prohibition)," Kass wrote in a blog post. The recipe can be found here along with a short video 'Inside The White House Beer Brewing' which shows the brewing in process. Your tax dollars hard at work yet again!"
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Ale To the Chief: White House Releases Beer Recipe

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  • MMMMMMMMM (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bobstreo ( 1320787 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:20PM (#41202367)

    Taste the freedom

  • by ultraexactzz ( 546422 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:23PM (#41202391) Journal
    According to the blog post, Pres. Obama bought the equipment himself, and the staff works on it in their spare time. Now, the video and the blog are taxpayer funded, so there's that. But after seeing that recipe - totally worth it.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Now, the video and the blog are taxpayer funded, so there's that.

      Ho ho ho, we've got him now.
      Impeach!

    • by sl4shd0rk ( 755837 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:59PM (#41202891)

      I'd rather my tax dollars went to beer breweing anyway. It's either that or some military money pit facade.

      • by Mitreya ( 579078 )

        I'd rather my tax dollars went to beer breweing anyway. It's either that or some military money pit facade.

        A minor issue, but that's a very dangerous, false (and common) dichotomy.
        Unless this is literally coming out of the military budget, any such expense comes out of the additional money that will be borrowed somewhere. Without a zero-sum budget, there are no balancing trade-offs forcing spending less on B because we spent more on A.

    • by aliquis ( 678370 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @09:31PM (#41203041)

      Swedish Vin & Sprit was also built with tax money.

      It served us good but was sold in 2008 to Pernod Ricard (for 55 billion SEK = 8.31 billion USD with todays exchange rate, actually Wikipedia says 5.6 billion euro so I guess the SEK value was someones conversion.)

      Their most well known brand is/was likely Absolut.

    • by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @11:32PM (#41203549)

      The President is an expensive office. There is a shit ton of money spent on keeping the person in it safe, happy, connected, getting them where they need to go, and so on. The cost of brewing some beer wouldn't even stack up to the salary of a single Secret Service agent, never mind the cost of running something like Air Force One.

      There is no real way around it either. Security costs are going to be extremely high because the President is a very high profile target. So you need good security keeping them safe. Some might argue that a lot of the pomp and circumstance should be cut out which would save a bunch but then you have to remember that the President is not just the head of government but also the chief of state, they are the head diplomat. All that pomp and circumstance plays a very useful role in international relations.

      So frankly they can charge the cost of brewing beer to the taxpayers, I don't mind at all. It is an expensive office to maintain and there really isn't any other way it can be so long as the US maintains its place of prominence among nations.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:23PM (#41202395)

    The brewing equipment and expenses were paid for by the Obamas personally. The same for all White House meals (I mean the POTUS family's personal consumption, I don't know about state dinners and such): their cost is paid from the POTUS salary. The POTUS is paid pretty well by most people's standards so s/he can afford it.

    See: Reuters [reuters.com], "Taxpayers are not footing the bill for the beer, as both the cost of the equipment and the cost of brewing the beer is paid for by the Obamas personally, the official said."

  • by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:25PM (#41202403) Journal

    Yeah, well, compared to the wars, prohibition, TSA, etc., it's money well spent.

  • Hey! (Score:5, Funny)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:26PM (#41202407)
    This would be a great time for the two candidates to sit down over a beer and talk... oh. Wait. He's a Morman. Oh well. I guess he can drink weak tea. Wait. Sorry. Can't have that either. Caffeine. I guess there's always caffeine free diet Pepsi.
    • Re:Hey! (Score:5, Informative)

      by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:18PM (#41202669) Homepage Journal

      Actually, the Mormon Word of Wisdom only forbids specific stimulating and intoxicating beverages, not alcohol or caffeine as such. Official LDS doctrine uniformly condemns alcohol, but they don't get uptight about the odd caffeinated cola.

      Beside the point. Regardless of beverage, Romney can't be seen to treat Obama as anything other than Satan Incarnate. Notice how all the speeches at the recent convention were about how uncool BO is;

      Indeed, the whole GOP brand is about condemning liberalism in any shape or form. Nancy Pelosi is evil. Harry Reid is evil. Liberals hate America. That's been their whole brand for the last decade or so.

      This is a bad thing. Democracy only works when nominal enemies look past their differences and come up with solutions both sides can live with. If we don't outgrow this holier-than-thou crap soon, we're in big trouble.

      • Re:Hey! (Score:5, Informative)

        by Kagato ( 116051 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @10:05PM (#41203195)

        I'm going to have to disagree with that one. A bunch of old mainframe guys I know worked for Control Data Corporation in the 80s. One of their big customers was the LDS for their massive genealogy project. Most of them spent a good deal of time at LDS offices in SLC, where they clearly recall having to sneak caffeinated coke from the local 7-11 inside a thermos.

        I'm not an expert on what their holy book says or doesn't say, I can only say that LDS managers back then got bent out of shape over caffeine.

        • No caffeine at BYU (Score:2, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Gotta go off campus several blocks to the 7-11/Circle K. Significant disciplinary offense to get caught bringing it on campus.

        • by fm6 ( 162816 )

          No doubt many Mormons are stricter than the official rules. I've known Mormons who avoided caffeine in any form. It makes sense that if coffee and tea are unMormon, other caffeinated beverages are too. But here's the official LDS word: caffeinated soda is kosher [sltrib.com].

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by BryanL ( 93656 )

        Read about a third of the way down. This is a response to last weeks Rock Center piece on the Church, but it still answers the question you are trying to answer.

        http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-news--getting-it-right-august-29 [mormonnewsroom.org]

      • Both mainstream parties are guilty of a great deal of mudslinging and general douchebaggery towards the other. While what you say is unacceptable, it's also not new or only a one-way street. Calling out only one side is hardly fair.
        • by fm6 ( 162816 )

          Yeah, the Demos have a lot to answer for. But I would submit that they can't begin to compete with the GOP for simple "my way or the highway" assholedness.

          For one thing, there's no left-wing equivalent of the Tea Party. Yeah, the Occupy Movement can match them in terms of extreme ideology and political temper tantrums. But Occupy refuses to have anything to do with formal politics, and thus has no influence over the Democratic party. As opposed to the Tea Party, which pretty much set the agenda for the GOP

    • I guess there's always caffeine free diet Pepsi.

      With a twist of money.

  • by theshowmecanuck ( 703852 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:32PM (#41202433) Journal
    For those who bitch about this, if the president spent his money collecting stamps or collecting guitars I doubt you would you beat him up over it. But maybe you would: Oh sure he does or doesn't do XYZ, but he buys a Fender amp? You're evil Mr President; what a scumbag. Forget about it. So brewing beer, good for him. There are many people in America who like to brew their own beer. There's nothing wrong with it and nothing wrong with the president doing it on his own time either.
    • by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:21PM (#41202691) Homepage Journal
      If I were President, I would collect dildos. I would collect them, and I would leave them in random places around the White House. But... That's why I'm where I'm at and Obama's where he's at. I'm sure collecting dildos never even occurred to him. I suppose I could ask him. He's in town tomorrow, fucking up my airspace. That's not code for anything, I literally can't fly until he leaves. So I have some time to kill.

      Good beer, though, that's something we can all agree on. Well except Mitt Romney. Mormons aren't allowed to have beer. Or coffee. How you're supposed to go about having 5 wives without coffee is beyond me. I'm pretty sure you can't get through 4 years of a presidency without dropping the F bomb at least a couple times, as well, so good luck with that, Mormon-boy. Maybe collecting dildos and leaving them in random places around the White House would help.

    • by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:25PM (#41202711) Homepage Journal

      ... if the president spent his money collecting stamps or collecting guitars I doubt you would you beat him up over it.

      Are you kidding? This President has been condemned as "elitist" for his choice of condiments [mediamatters.org].

      • Holy shit! Are you serious??? I didn't heard of it when it happened. Seriously??? They had so little to talk about the guy that they went with criticizing his mustard choice?
        • by artor3 ( 1344997 )

          I also distinctly remember them complaining when the Obamas grew some arugula in their gardens. Apparently growing a lettuce commonly used to top soups and pizzas and baked potatoes makes them elitist snobs. And don't forget how they eviscerated Kerry over his windsurfing (an elitist hobby!).

          It's effective. Scream and holler about how awful someone is every day, and eventually the hatred starts to rub off on the public.

      • ... if the president spent his money collecting stamps or collecting guitars I doubt you would you beat him up over it.

        Are you kidding? This President has been condemned as "elitist" for his choice of condiments [mediamatters.org].

        Yeah, by a couple of right-wing whackjobs that don't deserve the label 'Republican'. Jesus Christ, if they gotta try crucifying him for eating a fucking hamburger he paid for out of his own fucking pocket, the far-gone Right has serious fucking problems. Course, go after their guy and criticize every fucking move he makes and you're un-American.

        FWIW, I don't put ketsup on my hamburgers either. Ketsup belongs on french fries goddammit, just like GAWD ordained in the fucking Bible.

        • by fm6 ( 162816 )

          There was more to Poupongate than a couple of whackjobs. Lots of pundits were making noise. Among the leaders were Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, both people GOP politicians are loath to offend.

          • Two media 'leaders' propped up by their corporado masters. Both have had their share of scandals over the years, but both keep comin back just like zombies. The problem with a legitimate Republican 'pissing them off' is, do so, and they'll campaign for your Tea Party alternative with an axe to grind and zero incentive to learn compromise in order to form a better government. If what you need to get done isn't on their agenda, or if you're on the wrong side of the aisle, yer fucked.
    • Actually I am mad at him for stealing fenders wood and blocking them from building their guitars.
    • by fermion ( 181285 )
      I am reminded of Hank William's, jr. [youtube.com], The fact is that some people have nothing better to do than control what others do. They are elitist religious fanatics who lose sleep over a concern that someone, somewhere, might be having fun. These people are no better than terrorists. I mean if I am an adult and I want to go to a bar after the late shift, why should I not be allowed to? If I want to see naked people dance, why not? The most arbitrary restriction of my right to chose as an adult was no being a
  • As far as hobbies go (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Dyinobal ( 1427207 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:36PM (#41202451)

    As far as hobbies go this one is pretty cool and even a bit nerdy. I've always wanted to brew my own beer, or make my own tequila and I don't even drink.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:14PM (#41202651)

      Go for it!

      I'm a former IT nerd turned nerdy brewer via homebrewing. The very basics are easy: you dump sugar into water, raise it to a boil, add hops, continue boiling for an hour, chill, dump the sugar water (wort) into a sanitized bucket, add yeast, wait a couple weeks, bottle with a small amount of sugar (for fizz)

      And things go from there.

      Some yeast strains work best below room temp, some at, some above (i.e., temperature control).

      If you move to using base ingredients (malted grains) instead of sugars, you'll need more gadgets (malt mill, pump, thermometer, etc).

      You can add or subtract flavours by using different yeast strains (usually phenols and esters), which moves into yeast culturing (chemistry and biology).

      FWIW, all in, I can do something like Obama's beer in 3 hours. And in 2 or 3 weeks, be drinking something pretty decent.

      And if I can make good beer, anyone can.

    • by fm6 ( 162816 )

      Well yeah. This dude is pretty much the most nerdy POTUS ever. When he was a kid, he collected Spider-Man comic books. When he first met Leonard Nimoy, he gave him a Vulcan salute. Nerd, nerd, nerd.

    • I don't know that I could call this Obama's hobby, since the video embedded in TFA says that it's the chefs, not the man himself, brewing the beer. It's simply something he encourages.
    • Brewing is easy. I make wine all the time out of any fruit or vegetable that I come into possession of in large enough quantities. I find beer trickier, but I think that's just because I'm a picky ale drinker.

      Distilling, on the other hand, is not (that's what you'd need to do to make a tequila). It's pretty dangerous in terms of exploding stills, pretty dangerous in terms of poisonous final product, and it's also probably illegal depending on your jurisdiction (in the UK, you need a licence). That's not to

  • FINALLY, Slashdot! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:39PM (#41202465)

    We like to complain about which stories get posted, and which don't... butI think we can all agree - this qualifies as stuff that matters.

  • by CuteSteveJobs ( 1343851 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:41PM (#41202481)
    > Your tax dollars hard at work yet again!"

    If they are going to serve beer in the Whitehouse it's much cheaper to brew it themselves then to buy it. About 30 cents for a 750 mil bottle holding the equivalent of two cans. They also don't have to pay the extortionate government sales tax on alcohol. Hey hang on...

    http://taxfoundation.org:81/article/state-sales-gasoline-cigarette-and-alcohol-tax-rates-state-2000-2010 [taxfoundation.org]
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homebrewing [wikipedia.org]
  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 01, 2012 @07:52PM (#41202519)

    If home-made beer and wine are just fine in this day and age, why does distilling your own whiskey for your own use get you time in the federal prison system? I just want my "Awesome-Swill-From-Dawsonville" party-liquor each New Years without worrying about the BATFE...

    • Because:
      1) Stills can and do explode. In my part of the UK, illegal moonshine was a bit of a trend in my grandparent's generation, and they've got many a tale of exploding farm sheds.
      2) Because it's easy to accidentally make poison if you don't do it just right (by brewing a high quantity of methanol or other non-edible alcohols instead of ethanol).
      3) It's far more valuable when you're done, and you're less able to consume your entire output without outside help (selling home-brew is always illegal in the U

    • by Hatta ( 162192 )

      If beer and wine are just fine in this day and age, why does growing the much less harmful Cannabis for your own use get you time in the federal prison system?

  • by Riddler Sensei ( 979333 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:01PM (#41202583)

    Is this as per Obama's response to his Reddit appearance [reddit.com] the other night?

  • by aNonnyMouseCowered ( 2693969 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:19PM (#41202675)

    Where there are no burning issues at hand, human interest stories are a good tactic to keep a candidate in the news or at least in Twitterverse. Expect to learn more trivial, but harmless stuff like these "brewed" by the campaign strategists who work behind the scenes.

    Somehow this only convinces me that come November a new occupant will fill that hopefully not empty Chair at the Oval Office.

  • Amazing (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Amazing what the government is able to accomplish now that they've got the budget balanced and a job for everyone that so desires.

  • Beginner recipie (Score:4, Informative)

    by trout007 ( 975317 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:23PM (#41202703)

    All of the extract and pellets make this a real beginners brew. They should really step up to all grain brewing. Much better flavor.

  • by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @08:35PM (#41202767)

    At least this ought to help BHO understand the difference of Free as in Beer.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Perusing the ingredients:
    Munich (germany) malt
    Hallertauer (again, germany) hops
    Kent Golding (UK) hops
    Fuggles (UK) hops
    Nottingham and Windsor dry yeasts are from Danstar (Canada) and mimic UK strains

    I'm surprised they didn't make something with west coast hops & some of the liquid yeasts. The US keepst fantastic yeast banks at White Labs (California/Colorado) and Wyeast (Oregon).

  • by shuz ( 706678 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @09:29PM (#41203021) Homepage Journal

    The leetist and best president ever!

    Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, signed the bill, H.R. 1337, into law in October 1978 legalizing home brewing [wikipedia.org]. Bill 1337, can't make this stuff up folks. :-)

  • How very noob.

  • by slick7 ( 1703596 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @09:43PM (#41203103)
    Alcohol drinking Muslims. Is that true radicalism or an oxymoron?
    • I've met plenty of Muslims who pray 5 times a day and then go out drinking at night.
      Some of them actually felt bad about their hypocrisy. /the conspiracy minded would probably argue that Obama is drinking alcohol in order to trick the American people

  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @09:50PM (#41203123) Journal
    romney to release his tax forms. Then we can find out who is patriotic and who is not.
  • by __aaltlg1547 ( 2541114 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @10:10PM (#41203221)

    Sam Kass, White House Assistant Chef and the Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives, after much buzz, today released the recipe for White House Honey Ale and White House Honey Porter...

    I see what you did there.

  • by kimanaw ( 795600 ) on Saturday September 01, 2012 @10:44PM (#41203341)
    Massive doses of B vitamins, purified water (you know fish breed in that stuff ?), yeast hulls, and reduced stress levels.

    Alas, as a Libertarian, Mssr. Obama's socialist leanings disallow me from voting for him, but I applaud his choice of quality beverage. Perhaps a good pint of Pliney, or a Firestone Parabola, or Black Butte XXIV, will clear his mind. I'd be happy to volunteer a pint of my excellent Saison or Belgian Quad if it will end America's perpetual war on "whoever we're trying to kill at the moment:"

    (Have no fear, I have no such delusions that Mssr. Romney will be swayed by a friendly magic pint - mores the pity...)

  • Very unexpected for a typically pessimistic crowd. Definitely bookmarking this thread for comparison when a Republican President posts his putting tips or something. I'll bet /. would pounce on that, but you never know... you guys have surprised me before.

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