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Hold The Honey? Hick’s Thoughts On The White House Beer

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Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper hasn’t tasted the new homebrewed beer President Obama has been drinking as of late; however he does have a few choice words about the White House brew.

The White House unveiled the secret recipes [.pdf] for its homebrew after pressure from beer enthusiasts and the White House Press Corps (which went so far as to file a Freedom Information Act request). As far as White House Chef Sam Kass knows, it’s the first time alcohol has been brewed or distilled on the grounds.

http://youtu.be/dygQrX8FI3Q

The two varieties feature honey from the White House beehives.

Now that the recipes have been released, The Atlantic reports Governor Hickenlooper has offered some of his suggestions for the White House brewmaster.

"He's using honey… I think, because they've got an apiary," Hickenlooper noted. "What that does is it makes it a smoother beer. It's none of my business and I don't want to criticize the White House chef, but I think maybe they could use a little less honey. One recipe I'm pretty sure would be better without the honey and the other one I think would be. A little bit less honey would be nice."

The Governor is widely known as the geologist-turned brewpub owner who helped revive Lower Downtown Denver by opening the Wynkoop brewery and restaurant. While the ‘guv’ no longer owns the brewery, beer is still very important to the state’s number one politician.

During his brief appearance at this year’s Democratic National Convention, Hickenlooper mentioned that he was “the first governor since Sam Adams to get his start in brewing beer,” making him uniquely qualified to critique the White House brew.

And while it seems the President has varied taste in beer, it’s interesting to note that during his 2009 “beer summit” he cracked open a Budweiser. And reports say Obama has been a Bud man “at least since arriving at the White House.”

But, at least during his travels around the country on the campaign trail this year, the President takes a few 6-packs of his homebrew with him.

Which is what any good beer lovin’ brewmaster would do.

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