Ale to the Chief: Presidential Beer

Photo by Mohan Nannapaneni

Today marks Presidents’ Day in the U.S., a federal holiday where Americans take advantage of a long weekend during the midwinter. It’s not necessarily a holiday where we reflect on the role of the President, but a holiday to recharge our batteries. What does any of this have to do with beer? Believe it or not it does – from our forefathers up to the Obama administration (Trump and Biden don’t drink alcohol), presidential history would not be complete without mentioning beer, for it is this beverage that many a president adored.

Beer in the United States dates back to colonial times of the 1600s where taverns were an integral part of a village. By the time our founding fathers were busy working on the Constitution, beer was a favored drink by many. It’s a well known fact that George Washington loved his beers, especially the English style porter. President Washington regularly ordered quantities of his beloved porter from Robert Hare, a Philadelphia brewer. Washington himself brewed beer at Mount Vernon, and crafted a recipe for “small beer,” a lower alcohol or near-beer, handwritten in a journal that is kept in the New York Library.

Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, also spoke highly of beer’s qualities, “Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.” Jefferson, a home brewer himself, enjoyed his retirement at Monticello by making this “table liquor” that was served during dinner. After a new brewhouse was in operation at Monticello in 1814 and word spread of its production, people began requesting his recipes. He claimed not to have had a recipe for his creations. In trying to replicate Jefferson’s beers, modern brewers have had to approximate what he might have made based on historical recipes and local ingredients.  

James Madison was also an avid supporter of beer during his presidency. It was the former president Jefferson who offered to send someone from Madison’s camp to apprentice at Monticello. For the love of beer and protection of the domestic beer market, Madison proposed the creation of a government-run national brewery and the appointment of a Secretary of Beer to the cabinet. Though not approved, Madison’s efforts highlight the importance of beer in American history.  

From 1920 to 1933 the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol became illegal. The National Prohibition Act was passed in 1919, despite the veto by President Woodrow Wilson. Breweries either went out of business or produced malt extracts and yeasts for making desserts and baking bread (although these products were used for making beer secretly). It was the nation’s 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who put an end to Prohibition by signing the Cullen-Harrison Act, which redefined and legalized alcohol content of 3.2% as the maximum allowed. This act led to the repeal of Prohibition later in 1933.  

As American breweries rebuilt over the years, home brewers were still not allowed to legally brew until President Jimmy Carter signed a bill in 1978 that made brewing beer and wine at home legal. (By the way, who remembers Billy Beer, the short-lived beer made by President Carter’s brother, Billy?) It was no secret that President Obama enjoyed beer on occasion. Many reporters and photographers have captured him having a pint in Washington, D.C. and at the White House in 2009 when he held what was coined the “Beer Summit” in an effort to dialogue with a black professor who was arrested by a white police officer. Obama also bought a home brewing kit for crafting the first beer brewed on the White House grounds, a honey brown ale. In September 2012, the White House released two presidential beer recipes (which can be found here), which also got the attention of beer lovers nationwide. 

While it’s not usual to feel patriotic upon ordering a beer, if we stop to think for a moment how much history is in that pint of American crafted porter, we might feel inclined to toast to those presidents who made beer an important part of their lives and who shared their dedication with the people. So today, raise a glass this Presidents’ Day and say “Ale to the Chief!” Cheers!