I have to tell you, I was so inspired when I saw President Obama sipping on a brew. How long has it been? When did we last have a beer drining president? W? nah, when he was younger. Bill, no don’t think so, W’s Dad?, no don’t think so either, Ron, no he supposedly didn’t drink very much. Jimmy? nope, (his brother did though). To make a long story short, based on my intensive research ( I ran two Google searches), Obama may be the first beer drinking president.

The Presidents who were not teetotalers, drank the hard stuff, bourbon and coke (Lyndon Johnson), Gin and Tonic (Gerald Ford), Scotch and Brandy (Franklin Roosevelt), and so on.

You know, I’m wondering, doesn’t it seem like teetotalers make lousy Presidents? Maybe not, but? Or maybe the drinkers make lousy Presidents?

No beer drinkers amongst them, as far as I could tell, nor effete wine sippers.

My favorite presidential drinking story is about Abraham Lincoln concerning General Ulysses S. Grant who supposedly drank prodigous amounts of whiskey. Somebody ratted him out and wanted to know what Lincoln was going to do about it. Honest Abe said that he wanted to find out what kind of whiskey it was so he could send a barrel of it to each of his other generals.

Sorry, I’m way off topic, I was talking about being inspired by the Commander in Chief. So I took advantage of the “pick 6” program at my local liquor store. You can buy 6 different beers individually and get a discount. This way, you can try unknown beers without buying a whole six pack. So I went and picked six different India Pale Ales (“IPAs”). IPA’s are pretty bitter and have a great aroma. They use lots of hops and they are my favorite kind of beer.

The first one up is Left Hand Brewing Company’s Jackman’s American Pale Ale. It was a definite “OK” beer. It was pretty smooth and I enjoyed drinking it but it just didn’t have that “bite” that left me wanting more.

A good solid 2.5 stars out of 4. Its ok, but there are better beers out there.