Putting beer on the map

I like the idea of a "beer summit" to settle disputes. Long ago, Prime Minister Harold Wilson would host "beer and sandwiches" events at 10 Downing Street with trade union leaders, if a major strike loomed.

As the TUC had a corporate event at the Great British Beer Festival this week, perhaps unions and beer are making a comeback.

But the beer summit that hit the headlines last week was the one at the White House. You will recall the recent furore when a leading academic, Professor Henry Gates, was arrested in his own house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by a police officer, Sergeant James Crowley.

It became an incendiary event because Gates is black and Crowley is white. When President Obama accused the Cambridge police of acting stupidly, all hell broke loose. The president did a discrete U-turn and suggested Gates and Crowley should meet him for a beer in the Rose Garden at his place.

Peace broke out over a few beers. Gates and Crowley turned into the Chuckle Brothers and agreed to meet again for friendly chats. The relieved smile on the president's face spoke volumes.

The only major disappointment was the choice of beer. Top marks go to Sgt Crowley who went for Blue Moon. This is a Belgian-style spiced wheat beer in the Hoegaarden vein. It's brewed by a subsidiary of Molson Coors, one of the brewing giants, but is nevertheless a drinkable beer, one that's available in this country.

Professor Gates, who clearly is concerned about "beer miles", went for a bevy from his home state, Sam Adams Light. The Boston Beer Company is one of the biggest and most successful craft breweries in the US and its Sam Adams Ale and Lager are both exceptional beers. Adams was a leading organiser of the War of Independence and helped organise the Boston Tea Party. Perhaps Gates was making a subtle political point with his choice of beer.

But it's a pity Gates took from the Boston beer list the least exciting of the range. Light or — spare the spelling — lite beers have never taken off in Britain as they deliver little in the way of taste or flavour. Miller Lite was such a disaster that it was re-branded Miller Pilsener here, heaping insult on insult.

President Obama, I'm afraid, gets the wooden spoon. Surely he could have done better than Bud Light? This is the biggest brand in the States, but Obama is an intellectual, a man of taste and discrimination. You wouldn't expect him to order what Americans call "jug wine" at a White House banquet and his beer choice leaves a lot to be desired.

Vice-president Joe Biden only made things worse. He dropped briefly in to the Rose Garden to join the jamboree and ordered Buckler, a no-alcohol beer. Biden is said to be a great expert on foreign affairs, but he's bottom of the class where beer is concerned.

The event put beer on the map, which will please American brewers. But the craft-beer sector will be disappointed that only one of their fraternity, Boston Beer, featured in the president's Rose Garden, and it was the least interesting of the company's portfolio.

Craft beer is in the ascendancy in the US. There are 1,300 small breweries and they account for around 10% of beer sales. By British standards they are not small. Sierra Nevada of Chico, California, brews close to one million barrels a year, which approximates to the combined production of Greene King and Marston's.

Craft brewing​

The craft brewing sector has, long after the event, righted the wrong of Prohibition. When the ban on the manufacture and sale of alcohol was lifted in 1933, only a small handful of brewers had survived by selling malt drinks or, in the case of Budweiser, ice cream. Most of the smaller regional companies had been wiped out.

Life was not made easier for the brewing industry in the decades that followed. The Great Depression of the 1930s and then World War Two removed millions from the beer

market, both economically and militarily.

Slowly and often painfully, choice returned. From the 1960s and '70s, a handful of small producers, most notably Anchor in San Francisco, returned pride and taste to American beer.

Fritz Maytag at Anchor toured England to study ale production and was deeply impressed by the likes of Timothy Taylor and Young's. He returned home to add to Anchor Steam, an American speciality, brilliant English-inspired beers such as Liberty Ale.

Now there is choice in abundance. Both the British and German roots of America are recalled in the massive number of porters, stouts, IPAs, Pilseners and Bocks now available.

It's a pity that choice was not more in evidence at the White House last week. But it was a start. I look forward to more beer summits.

Instead of a TV debate, perhaps Brown and Cameron should settle down for a pint or two. Manns Brown Ale and Cameron's Strongarm, perhaps.