Friday Quote

“Come on, Barry; you’re from Chicago. Why didn’t you bust out a variety of Chicago’s own Goose Island brews for your new homies to choose from? Or you could have gone with Bell’s, a fantastic brewery from across the lake in Kalamazoo. Or you could have gone local-ish and tapped something from what I consider to be the most interesting U.S. craft brewery today—Delaware’s dynamic Dogfish Head.” - Tom Philpott in an article about President Obama’s beer summit that appeared on Grist yesterday afternoon.

*photo from The New York Times

That’s exactly the way we felt when we heard that President Obama was hosting a beer summit at the White House yesterday, and that his hops of choice was a Bud Light.  So much for the oppotunity for Obama to show his “green cred” by going with an organic beer or a local brew - instead President Obama went with a boring Bud Light, while officer James Crowley had a Blue Moon, Harvard Professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates a Sam Adams Light, and Vice President Joe Biden a non-alcoholic Buckler.

Here is why Obama should have chose organic beer:

• Choosing organic beer means that the barley, hops, and other ingredients used to make your fermented refreshment are spared the application of toxic insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers.
• Purchasing from locally based brewers helps support small, family-owned businesses that make communities unique and diverse
• Buying local helps keep profits circulating in the community
• Buying local reduces negative environmental effects caused by long-distance transportation
• Many microbreweries use large, refillable containers “growlers” so customers can get a quick fill-up, thereby reducing unnecessary packaging - and it’s cheaper for the consumer that way too