Brewing Ale to the Chief Honey Ale

It has been quite awhile since the White House published its two #HomeBrew recipes. If I have my timeline correct, they released the recipes in September of 2012. I converted the porter a couple weeks later. I converted the Honey Ale to an all-grain recipe in November of 2012.

Recently, I decided to do a smaller batch of this recipe.

This Saturday, I brewed the small batch. If you pay attention to my brew-day blog posts, you probably realize that a Saturday brew is pretty unusual. Not only was it a strange day for me, but as you may be able to tell from the picture below, I didn't get started until after 10:30AM. This is practically unheard of.

Ale to the Chief: Honey Ale

All-Grain Version of the White House Honey Ale

I am disappointed with the results of the recent presidential election. I am not a fan of the president's policies, and I think the country would be better off with a change of leadership.

One thing that I am a fan of, though, is that some of the White House staff home-brews. That is cool.

What should I #HomeBrew Next?

I can't decide what to brew next. From time to time, when I have come across such dilemmas, I've called for votes on facebook and twitter to help me decide. Usually I get pretty good feedback, and am able to decide from the votes what to brew. This time I thought I would post an "official" on-line poll like I did in Help Me pick my #IPADay Beer.

So, here we go ... vote as early and often as you would like. If you don't like what I put in the poll, tell me what style you think I should brew in the "Other" choice.

All-Grain Version of the White House Honey Porter

In White House #HomeBrew Recipes, I told you that the White House had emailed me two beer recipes. Of course, they were extract recipes, and if I am going to brew one or both, I need all-grain versions.

I have not seen any all-grain versions of the recipes posted on the inter-webs, yet. So, I decided to go ahead and convert them. Of the two, I am more likely to brew the Honey Porter, so I started with that one. Chances are, I'll convert the other one soon.

You can look at the details of the recipe at Ale to the Chief: Honey Porter.

White House #HomeBrew Recipes

I got an email from the White House yesterday. Yes, I am that big of a deal.

The reason I got this email, actually, is that I signed on online petition asking that the White House release its home-brew recipes to the public. You can see it at whitehouse.gov: "Release the recipe for the Honey Ale home brewed at the White House".

The petition was started on August 18th and as I type this, it has 12,240 signatures. Originally, the petition said it would need more than that (24,000?) signatures to "pass", but I guess the white house didn't see any reason not to share the recipes. They are not huge government secrets, and there was certainly interest out there.

I don't know if I will make either of the 2 recipes. Generally speaking, I don't use recipes from other people. Part of the fun of home-brewing is creating my own recipes. I may or may not make an exception here. The White House did make a special effort to email me.

If I do make them, at the very least, I will convert them to all-grain. Of course, I'll have to substitute some Colorado honey for the White House Honey.

Anyway, I think it is cool that the White House is home-brewing, and I think they made the right decision to share the recipes.