Obama Beer Summit: What Did They Drink?

The beer was ordered for the White House summit well in advance. Much to my surprise, it is on the White House lawn that I found my common cause with Henry Louis Gates in his reported taste in beers.

Barack Obama is reported to have had Bud Light, an alcohol enriched mineral water sometimes mistakenly referred to as beer.

Sergeant Crowley had Blue Moon beer, a microbrew from Seattle. A microbrew is brewed in much smaller batches and is comparable to the best European beers. If the American auto industry would do for automotive quality what Seattle has done for beer quality, American cars would rule the world.

Henry Louis Gates chose Sam Adams Beer, which is brewed in Boston and can stand up to the best of German beer. It comes in quite a few varieties.

It had been originally reported that Henry Louis Gates had Red Stripe beer, which is brewed in Jamaica. It is a high quality lager beer that comes in an amber coloured glass bottle with a non twist off cap. It is very popular in parts of Brooklyn with a high population of West Indian immigrants.I used to drink it on the street out of a paper bag until the New York City Police Department made that a costly proposition for me one hot August afternoon. Apparently, "buy American" was the order of the day tonight on the White House lawn

Joe Biden made the wisest choice of all. He had a non alcoholic beer called Bucklers. He might do well to drink it regularly to avoid the misstatements to which he is most gamously prone.

It was not reported how many beers each participant in the beer summit drank. With the exception of Bud Light, I would be tempted to try selections other than my own in any beer summit, especially as a gesture of openness to other opinions.

In general, everyone came out of the "beer summit" looking pretty good. It took the attention off Obama's foolish statement criticising Sergeant Crowley and cast him into the role of a peacemaker. Crowley and Gates rose to the occasion as well, conversing amiably together.

The biggest winners were the breweries who got a windfall in product placement. Obama might stimulate the economy with other "product placement moments". In Britain and other countries they have "purveyors to the crown." These are people who do business with the royal family and in turn are permitted to put a logo attesting to this on their product. Is America ready for this? I don't know.

Obama is a very good salesman. Unfortunately, he is saddled with some pretty mediocre merchandise such as his health plan. My advice to anyone invited by Obama to have a beer and discuss his health plan is as follows. Do like Biden. Stay away from the alcohol. And look at the fine print.