Polarized Beer Geeks

We’ve been saying it for over a decade now: Beer is the ultimate social lubricant. It brings people together no matter who they are or what they believe. Unfortunately, America’s polarized political landscape has spilled into our beer.

When asked by People Magazine in 2011 if he’d ever had a beer, Mitt Romney replied: “Never had drinks or tobacco. It’s a religious thing. I tasted a beer and tried a cigarette once, as a wayward teenager, and never did it again.” And the beer community remained, for the most part, silent. Perhaps people respected his decision as it was based on private beliefs.

However, when news hit this summer that the White House chefs homebrew, and that President Obama brings and shares the brews on the campaign trail, we witnessed partisan political criticisms and all kinds of hate—including racial slurs. And when Bill Butcher, owner of Port City Brewing Company, spoke at the Democratic National Convention as a small business owner, he was chastised for coming out as a Democrat. Some even called for a boycott on his beers.

We get that some of you might not agree with President Obama and the Democratic Party; however, shouldn’t we, as beer advocates, and regardless of our personal politics, be thrilled that beer is getting national attention at this level? Personally, we’re glad to hear that any politician is pro-beer—and any true beer advocate should be glad, too.

Respect Beer. ■