Barack Obama promised and the White House delivered, revealing recipes for the president’s official microbrewed honey beers, following an Internet campaign. “With public excitement about the White House beer fermenting such a buzz, we decided we better hop right to it,” said Sam Kass, one of Obama’s chefs, on the White House blog. The “Ale to the Chief,” he punned, is “as far as we know … the first alcohol brewed or distilled on the White House grounds.” “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,” he continued. “Inspired by home brewers from across the country, last year President Obama bought a home brewing kit for the kitchen” at the White House, the chef explained. With advice from White House staffers who brew in their own spare time, the chefs honed a recipe — tweaked from a local brew shop’s offering — which features honey “tapped from the first ever bee-hive on the South Lawn” in the White House garden. More than 12,000 people had signed a petition asking for the White House’s special brew on the “We the People” page of the White House web site, which is dedicated to grassroots petitions.
