Yesterday was Presidents Day so we are going lightly surf
over Presidents and beer.
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| It is hard to believe this is the first beer brewed in the White House. (Original here) |
First a little bragging, having been in the Presidential box
at the Kennedy Center I can tell you that President Obama doesn’t have
exceptional beer taste. (No, the President was not there.) It was just an
assortment of Budweiser products. While that is a slight detraction our current
President redeems himself since they are the first residents to brew beer at
the White House, which is surprisingly given some of its residents over 200 years. Politics aside,
that is awesome.
To celebrate this weird little holiday I wrote this piece
and drank a beer. To be more specific it was a General Washington’s Tavern Porter, a little bit of history in a bottle, brewed by Yards Brewing in
Philadelphia using one of Washington’s very own recipes. This is part of their
Ales of the Revolution series and it shares space with (not a president, but
all around awesome dude) Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale, and Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale. Not to be left out the fine folks at Starr Hill Brewery in
Charlottesville, VA have also been brewing Monticello Reserve Ale, a recreation of
the small beer Jefferson brewed at his home.
While various Presidential views have swung on the pendulum
of beer, one President takes the cake for giving a lot of thought to beer. Our
fourth President, James Madison, who brewed beer at his estate of Montpelier,
(also father of our constitution among other things), proposed the creation of a
national brewery and that every state should also have a brewery. He took it one step further when he wanted a
cabinet position to be created for the Secretary of Beer. That could have
potentially been the best job ever.
I have wondered which President I would like to share a beer
with. You see this question pop up from time to time, hell the Presidential
beer test is a classic election ploy used by networks.
We talked a bit about this on the Beercast a few weeks ago
with the presidents who served since I have been of legal drinking age, but if
I looked further back then here would be my top 5 and bottom 5.
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| Jefferson would have brought good homebrew to the party. (Original here) |
Top five dead presidents to drink a beer with:
Thomas Jefferson – You would not lack for conversation and
he would have probably brought his own beer.
John Adams – Opinionated, intelligent, but passionate, guaranteed
great bar conversation
George Washington – Like Jefferson he would have brought his
own, also all around cool dude.
Teddy Roosevelt – it would be energetic but fun!
Ronnie Reagan – the storytelling would be phenomenal
Honorable mentions: Gerald Ford, particularly if you were
watching football.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he brought beer back!
Bottom five presidents to drink a beer with:
Franklin Pierce – too morose
Calvin Coolidge – too wooden
Andrew Johnson – too racist
Andrew Jackson – seems like he could be a real mean drunk
Rutherford B. Hayes – teetotaler
Dishonorable mention: Warren G. Harding – While he and his
cronies drank, he signed laws that made Prohibition even stricter.
Let us know yours in the comments!
Let us know yours in the comments!
