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Thursday, July 30, 2009
Obama should drink Yuengling, not Bud, says Beer Wars' Baron

When the President sits down at the White House tonight for a beer with Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley, the Massachusetts cop who famously arrested Gates for getting mouthy, all three will be drinking foreign-owned brews, complains Anat Baron, Los Angeles-based director of the movie Beer Wars and former manager of Mike's Hard Lemonade.

"The president keeps saying it will be entrepreneurs that take us out of the recession. Well, there's plenty of American-owned, entrepreneurial beers available around the White House," Baron told me from home in Los Angeles.

Foreign-owned? "Obama’s press secretary says he’ll be drinking a Bud Light. It’s the No. 1 beer in America in terms of sales. It's made by Anheuser-Busch, which for $52 billion was sold last year to Belgian beermaker Inbev."

Why's Obama drinking that stuff? "He was seen at a Wizards game with a Budweiser. He’s trying to show he’s a populist. An all-American guy. He’s been quoted not wanting to drink a designer beer, a frou-frou beer."

So what's Obama's beer record? Campaigning in Pennsylvania, "he was seen drinking a Yuengling. It was great he had a Yuengling. Didn't that start out as a coal miner’s beverage?" You betcha - in hard-coal Pottsville, Pa., 90 miles up the Schuylkill from hereabouts. "And for his inauguration he drank a local Chicago beer. Goose Island. That's what they call a craft beer." 

So why Bud, after Yuengling and Goose Island? "You think the president made this choice? His handlers chose. They picked the easy choice. He’s supposed to be the president of change. I understand why he drinks (Bud) at sporting events. It's all they have. But at the White House he has free choice. When the president chooses a burger, does he go to McDonald’s? He goes to the local burger joint.

"We hear Sgt. Crowley is drinking a Blue Moon. That's marketed as being made by Blue Moon Brewing Co. But it's actually owned by Coors," and distributed in partnership with Miller. 

Aren't those good American beer names? "Miller now is owned by South African Brewing. Coors is owned by MolsonCoors, of Toronto." Blue Moon "is made in Toronto, in the Molson brewery.  The craft brewers will tell you Blue Moon is a faux craft beer. Sold next to Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. But it is sold by a conglomerate."

How about Prof. Gates? "He's drinking a Jamaican beer. Red Stripe. It's mostly owned by Diageo, the world’s largest liquor company." Based in London. A colonial beer. 

"So you’ve got a British-owned beer, a Belgian-owned beer, and a half-Canadian, half-South African beer. There are 1400 small American breweries. He could choose a Sam Adams."

Or, she added, "Yuengling would have been a great choice. It’s the oldest American brewery. And it’s American-owned." UPDATE: PhillyDeals didn't know (but should have), and readers have pointed out, that Yuengling is still the subject of a Teamster Local 830 boycott, confirms the local's Danny Grace. That makes "Vitamin Y" an unlikely choice for a labor-backed President.

Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 12:56 PM  Permalink | 36 comments
Comments   
Posted 01:22 PM, 07/30/2009
dreinterests
how about stoudt's American Pale Ale?
Posted 01:27 PM, 07/30/2009
patrick bateman
His people wont let him drink Yuengling since they kicked the teamsters out.
Posted 01:27 PM, 07/30/2009
VanAllen17
Where's the Copy Editor? "He’s suppose to be the president of change." -- supposed NOT suppose "He's drinking by a Jamaican beer." -- eliminate the "by" here, it makes no sense. I guess this is what I get for accessing this for free.
Posted 01:37 PM, 07/30/2009
mlefkoe
Aren't there enough serious things that this country needs to worry about instead of who drinks what beer brand? People need to grow up a little. This is trite politics!
Comment removed.
Posted 02:05 PM, 07/30/2009
jhoagi261
They should all just drink what they like. And people need to stop trying to read something into it.
Posted 02:12 PM, 07/30/2009
lenny429
I thought Ying Ling was a Chinese beer.
Posted 02:14 PM, 07/30/2009
CrazyIvan
Friends shouldn't let friends drink Bud...or Miller, for that matter.
Posted 02:16 PM, 07/30/2009
CrayzeeGuy
"Which means it's more expensive than Yuengling, because Goose Island is a beer for yuppies" -- what a completly misinformed statement.
Comment removed.
Posted 02:17 PM, 07/30/2009
Bud Fox
this beer idea is the worst idea ever! since when is it the job of the President of the United States to bring people involved in a minor local police incident to kiss and make up? this is below the Office. It is, as He might say, "below his pay grade". Please!
Posted 02:19 PM, 07/30/2009
ConverseB24
Who cares, I thought America was about choice let them choose, it's not his fault we let all these companies go overseas. Also thanks for showing us why businesses are run so badly, this was one of the worst articles, regardless of subject, that I have read in a while.
Posted 02:26 PM, 07/30/2009
mikegdj
Why would a philly.com journalist even bother to interview the former beer executive when they have Joe Sixpack on the payroll. He probably knows more about beer than the guy interviewed! Looking forward to tomorrow's Joe Sixpack column!
Posted 02:30 PM, 07/30/2009
SouthPhillyRob
Why don't they "keep it real" and have a 40 of OE on the stoop.
Posted 02:30 PM, 07/30/2009
AuntBethany
Bud sucks, but Red Stripe sucks more.
36 comments | View All Comments | View All By Latest
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column, which is printed in the business pages of The Philadelphia Inquirer every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Joe has worked at the Inquirer, mostly, since 1988. He has also written for Bloomberg and Gannett, authored the book Comcasted, majored in economics at Penn, and fathered six children. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com

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