Food

To The Poll: Should the White House Release Its Beer Recipe?

A movement is brewing around Obama's honey ale. Does the recipe belong to we, the people?

Should the President's honey ale recipe be public knowledge? Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Obama has been drinking a lot of beer lately, have you noticed? It’s one way to distance himself from a certain wealthy teetotaler who keeps saying bad stuff about him. He’s even brought the White House-brewed Honey Ale on the road with him—prompting a minor movement among transparency advocates to get him to share the recipe. A Reddit user recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request, asking for documents containing instructions on how to make the ale “or other beer made by the White House staff.”

The submitter concludes the request persuasively: “If you could send me a copy autographed by the President, you’d be the coolest FOIA officer in the whole federal government, and who could resist that title?”

Meanwhile, Politico brings word of an online petition urging POTUS to cough up the beery goods. That currently has 442 signatures—the goal is to get to 25,000 by mid-September.

So should Obama share his beer secrets with the world? This calls for a poll.