Nothings better than seeing a bunch of men in suits discussing their differences over American beer? Sadly this isn't the case. This story may not be the latest in the news, but with the attention is was given, it is still relevant for the beer industry. The interest in what beer was going to be chosen for the "beer summit' was interesting enough to be covered by many of news media outlets. The beer chosen though was speculated to be a political move made by the president to show his identification with the working man. What beer you wonder associates with the working man why its Bud Light owned by the massive Belgian conglomerate Inbev. Now I can believe that Obama's political advisers may have wanted him to drink this and if that is the case then it is a shame that they didn't pick the largest American owned beer company Boston Beer Works (makers of Samuel Adams) and also the area where the incident took place. Just in case you missed what happened Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was trying to get into his house and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. Joseph Crowley accidentally confused him for trying to break in and arrested Professor Gates. This minuscule action of choosing Bud Light for the summit does show though that the choice in beer by the supposedly "average Joe beer drinker" has not changed at least for the Obama administration. Even with sales being down in the larger beer companies and a rise in the craft beer industry. In this "craft beer" industry it should be noted that not all of them are microbreweries anymore such as Boston Beer Works or Sierra Nevada. These are macro-breweries. A microbrewery by definition is only allowed to produce 15,000 barrels a year. While Boston Beer Works made a little over 2 million barrels in 2009.
The other beers drank that day were Red Stripe for Professor gates which is owned by a massive international company, a Blue Moon for Officer Crowley, and a Buckler for Vice President Biden. All of these beers are as well internationally owned. Blue Moon is owned by MillerCoors (Joint venture between SabMiller British owned and Molson Coors a Canadian company). Vice President Biden's drink Buckler is owned by the behemoth from Holland, Heineken. If the Obama administration really wants to appeal to the average American why not have a nice Samuel Adams Boston Lager.
Beer Info:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111373030
http://www.faqs.org/sec-filings/100309/BOSTON-BEER-CO-INC_10-K/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8148986&page=1
http://www.millercoors.com/who-we-are.aspx
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/07/garden/3100-gallons-of-good-beer-down-a-drain.html?pagewanted=1
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