Via Reuters:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has become one of the first modern day U.S. presidents known for enjoying a cold beer that is brewed and tapped right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Obama aides on Tuesday confirmed the small brewery during a three-day re-election campaign tour across Iowa. An official admitted the Obamas have their own alcoholic beverage made and kept in stock at the White House.
Revelations about the White House beer came to light after the president gave a bottle of it to a patron at a coffee shop he was visiting in Iowa. The gift prompted the press corps traveling with Obama to ask for more details and White House spokesman Jay Carney was peppered with questions about the first family’s beverage of choice.
“There is a home brew, if you will, at the White House,” Carney told reporters.
I’m no lawyer, but is what President Obama doing even legal? How much beer is the Obama White House actually brewing? It looks like anything over 200 gallons per year is not allowed.
Plus, there’s the fact that the president took his home-brewed beer across state lines and was distributing it in Iowa.
And here’s Iowa’s law, via the Homebrewer’s Association:
Statute
§ 123.144 BOTTLING BEER.
No person shall bottle beer within the state of Iowa for purposes other than for individual consumption in a private home, except class “A” permittees who have complete equipment for bottling beer and who have received the approval of the local board of health as to sanitation, and it shall be the duty of local boards of health to inspect the premises and equipment of class “A” permittees who desire to bottle beer.
President Obama was not in a private home, now, was he. The law doesn’t mention bringing home-brewed beer in from out-of-state. Sounds to me like our president is a bootlegger!
Well, maybe not a bootlegger, but more information from the White House is needed and some clarification if what President Obama did in Iowa breaks any state laws.
And, at the very least, how much is the President’s hobby costing taxpayers per bottle?