Yesterday’s “Beer Summit” seemed to go well, with both Sgt. James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates Jr. looking to meet again in the future.
Yet for all the progress made at yesterday’s meeting, another controversy brewed in the background.
The four men (Vice President Joe Biden was a surprise addition) sat around a table with peanuts and pretzels, and were served their beers. Obama drank a Bud Light, Biden a Buckler (a nonalcoholic beer), Gates a Sam Adams Light, and Crowley a Blue Moon.
The tiff: only one beer (Sam Adams Light) is made by an American brewery. Bud Light is made by Anseuser-Busch InBev NV, a Belgian-Brazilian company; Buckler is an extension of Heineken, which is Dutch; and Blue Moon is sold in a joint venture in which London-based SABMiller has a majority stake. (The original selection of Red Stripe is made by London-based Diageo PLC).
So, are we really thinking about where our beers are brewed? Does it really matter?
I asked a liquor store owner for their most popular selling beers. Here they are (in no particular order) along with where they’re brewed:
- Olde English 800 (produced by Miller: Milwaukee, WI)
- Mickey’s (produced by Miller: Milwaukee, WI)
- King Cobra (produced by Anseuser-Busch InBev NV)
- Steel Reserve (produced by SABMiller: London, England, UK)
- Bud Light (produced by Anseuser-Busch InBev NV)
- Sierra Nevada (Chico, CA)
- Fat Tire (produced by New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO)
- New Castle Ale (an extension of Heineken, which is Dutch)
Let me know if I missed any.
