Obama Hates America

When President Obama invited Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Sgt. Joseph Crowley to meet up for a beer at the White House last week, one of my friends ended having a busy day because of it. Matt Simpson is the Beer Sommelier. He has taught a beer appreciation class at Emory University, is a certified BJCP (homebrew) judge, writes beer-related columns for Beer magazine and In the Mix, and has been organizing a series of beer dinners at Atlanta-area restaurants recently. Apparently, NPR, ABC News, and Fox all needed a beer geek to talk to about the Obama's attempt at peace-making.

I take a little vicarious pride in Matt's beer success here because, in a way, I helped him get his start in this field. He was a beer geek long before I met him, but he helped me out a lot when I started up TheBeerCellar.com, a beer news website that covered the southeastern United States until the start up of Southern Brew News made my not-for-profit efforts unnecessary. It wasn't until after his stint as managing editor and right-hand-man for me that he started up his professional beer proselytizing.

If you're curious about the title of today's post considering my past support of Obama, it's because not a single American beer was served at the happy hour summit. Bud Light is made by Anheuser-Busch, which was bought out by a Belgian company a while back. The beer was probably made in the US, but it's not owned by a US company any longer. Blue Moon, the police officer's choice, is made by Coors, which also was bought out by a foreign brewer. Since Miller also suffered the fate of becoming international, the largest American brewer is now either Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) or Yuengling. I can't seem to get a consensus from my sources. My money is on Sam Adams though. The third beer, Red Stripe, is Jamaican, and therefore irrelevant outside of the sprinting events at the Olympics. Personally, considering the circumstances, I may have gone for Collaboration Not Litigation from Avery Brewing.

Anyway, here's the NPR interview with Matt and here's his Obama's Beer Diplomacy interview with ABC News Now.

Oh, and if you're in the market for a beer expert to help you with a tasting or event, make sure to click that link for the Beer Sommelier at the top and check him out. I can vouch for the guy's beer knowledge and taste.