Wherein I Say Something Good About Obama

Yeah, you read that right.  Check this out:

That would be the president holding a bottle of beer... but that's a bottle of 312 beer, brewed in Chicago (312 is the metro Chicago area code -- how clever) and gifted to David Cameron last summer.  That's not necessarily a noteworthy thing as people give other people beer all the time... even presidents and prime ministers.  Nope, what got MY attention is the fact Obama is brewing his own beer.  Supposedly.  He's doing it in the White House and will serve the fruits of his labors at White House dinners in future.   From NPR's web site:

During this year's Super Bowl, President Obama created a stir by offering guests at the White House beer that he'd brewed himself. And now the president reportedly plans to have another batch of his homebrew on hand March 17 — that's right, for St. Patrick's Day.

According to the Irish Central website, when Obama announced that this March is Irish American Heritage Month, he also pledged to serve his own White House Honey Ale — made with honey from the White House garden beehive — to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Well, hell, that's no small beer.  Good on The One.  While the fact that the President brews his own beer is pretty cool (actually there's a Beer Czar in the White House kitchen that does it for him)... it's also unlikely to change my mind about Obama the president or Obama the politician.  That said, I wouldn't mind sampling a bottle of White House Honey Ale.  OTOH... "Gub'mint Beer."  The very thought makes me snicker.

I'll remind you that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, Gentle Reader.  Indications are Obama's clock stopped at Happy Hour, and that would be the best case.

―:☺:―

In other beer news.... Fox News has a good piece up on the craft beer explosion.  A few excerpts: 

In fact, while beers sales fell as a whole by almost 3 percent nationally, the sale of craft beer -- which is any beer made by breweries producing less than two million barrels a year -- has gone up.
 
In the first half of 2010, the sales of craft beer went up 9 percent by volume and 12 percent in dollars, according to the Brewers Association, a national non-profit association representing the majority of  U.S. breweries. 

While craft beers are still a small percentage of total beer sales, the totals are staggering and sobering: nine million barrels, more than $7 billion in sales, helping to fuel an estimated 100,000 full- and part-time jobs coast to coast.

Julia Herz, spokeswoman for the Brewers Association, says that breweries are on the rise in U.S. neighborhoods, with more than 1,600 breweries registered and another 500 in the planning stages.

It's no great secret that Americans' taste in beer is improving, what IS news is the proliferation of small local breweries.  The linked article claims that most Americans live within ten miles of a brewery and that is very good news.  Beer should be local, unless it isn't.  By that I mean there ain't no such thing as the Portales Brewery or "Big(ger) City Beer."  The nearest brewery to me is in Santa Fe... as far as I know... and they put out crap, unfortunately.  So we'll hang with beer from Fort Collins, CO; Shiner, TX; and Boston, among others.