What's your tipple this evening then?

[leviramsey]

More Samuel Adams Boston Lager for me...

Meanwhile, Obama enjoyed a Bud Light on Thursday

They came, they met, they drank. They did not apologize.

The much-anticipated “beer summit” of President Obama, the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department in Massachusetts took place Thursday night, accompanied by minute-by-minute reporting from the White House press corps, countdown clocks from the cable news networks, and a last-minute addition by the White House in the form of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

After 10 days of near nonstop news coverage of a case that prompted a thousand news stories about race, the men sat down for less than an hour at a table across from the Oval Office under a magnolia tree.

“What you had today was two gentlemen who agreed to disagree on a particular issue,” a poised and smooth Sergeant Crowley said in a 15-minute news conference after the session. “We didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the past, and we decided to look forward.”

Professor Gates said in an interview, “I don’t think anybody but Barack Obama would have thought about bringing us together.”

The two men and their families first encountered each other in the White House library while each group was on individual tours of the White House on Thursday afternoon.

“Nobody knew what to do,” Professor Gates said. “So I walked over, stuck out my hand and said, ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ That broke the awkwardness.”

Sergeant Crowley added that the families “had continued the tour as a group while the beer talk commenced.” He described the interaction between families as very cordial.

Professor Gates concurred, saying: “We hit it off right from the beginning. When he’s not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy.”

By the time the two men began their meeting with Mr. Obama, they could already report progress and told the president that they had made plans to lunch together soon.

“I am thankful to Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley for joining me at the White House this evening for a friendly, thoughtful conversation,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them.”

The addition of Mr. Biden was interesting, for a number of reasons. Mr. Biden was able to draw on his credibility with blue-collar, labor union America and his roots in Scranton, Pa., to add balance to the photo op that the White House presented: two black guys, two white guys, sitting around a table.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Obama had berated reporters for obsessing on the theatrics of the meeting, saying he was “fascinated with the fascination” over the issue, which has been boiling since Sergeant Crowley, responding to a call about a possible break-in, arrested Professor Gates for disorderly conduct even though he had ascertained that he was in his own home.

Mr. Obama added fuel to the fire a week later when he said in response to a question at a news conference that the Cambridge police had “acted stupidly” in arresting Professor Gates, a word choice he later said he regretted.

“I noticed this has been called the beer summit,” Mr. Obama said after meeting earlier Thursday with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines. “It’s a clever term, but this is not a summit, guys. This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other.”

The press was allowed only a peek at the gathering for about 40 seconds — and from a distance so great that reporters could not hear a word that was said.

Nonetheless, some details emerged:

¶Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden were in shirtsleeves; Sergeant Crowley and Professor Gates wore suits.

¶The four drank out of beer mugs. Mr. Obama had a Bud Lite, Sergeant Crowley had Blue Moon, Professor Gates drank Sam Adams Light and Mr. Biden, who does not drink, had a Buckler nonalcoholic beer. (Mr. Biden put a lime slice in his beer. Sergeant Crowley, for his part, kept with Blue Moon tradition and had a slice of orange in his drink.)

¶The four men munched peanuts and pretzels out of small silver bowls.

Reporters and photographers had positioned themselves on the grounds waiting for the gathering to start, when a white family of five showed up. Were they the Crowleys? “Excuse me, may I ask who you are?” a reporter shouted.

“Not who you think,” came the reply.

Jaconb Sullum"]

Without getting into the merits of citrus fruit in wheat beer (I happen to like it), Crowley seems to have the best taste. While there are many better Belgian-style ales made in the U.S. (in particular, those produced by Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, New York, and New Belgium in Fort Collins, Colorado), the Coors-produced Blue Moon is a decent choice (though New York Times food critic Eric Asimov jokingly chides Crowley for not thinking through the implications of drinking a "white" ale). But look at the other selections: two lights and a nonalcoholic "beer." A regular Sam Adams lager (or one of the company's ales) would have been a good hometown choice for Gates, but I've never understood the urge to water down beer. Instead of having two crappy ones, why not just one good one? It sounds like there was only one round at this little get-together anyway.

As for Obama's selection of Bud Light, this has to rank as one of his worst decisions since taking office, somewhere between the stimulus package and the auto industry bailout. Regular Budweiser is bad enough. When you have a beer that already tastes like water, why would you add more water to it? And the less said about Biden and his Buckler, the better. In yet another example of the blatant misrepresentations for which the Times is notorious, Asimov erroneously reports that "Joe Biden, who joined the other three, enjoyed a nonalcoholic brew called Buckler."

[buckler is the nonalcoholic version of Heineken, IIRC -- LR]

The sad thing is that three out of four men, given their pick of the world's beers, chose three of the same bland style. Gates reportedly was considering Jamaica's Red Stripe, which sounds a little more exotic but tastes pretty much the same as the major American lagers. Given the wide variety of excellent beers in myriad styles produced in the United States today, even jingoism is no excuse for the pitiful selection displayed at the White House.

[wedge]

Magners Irish Cider. Sitting in Terminal A at Orlando International Airport which departs here 6 hours after the initial announced departure time. Oh well, at least there's a sports bar...

[B6 to E6]

Right now

[rjw63]

Just for a change..............

[Gringo]

Couple of bottles of Torres Coronas Crianza 2006

[Xela]

Staropramen

Leffe

Mojitos

Rum and ginger beer

That is what has passed my lips today. Feeling a bit merry now!

[villadude]

Aint touched a drop today!

[Ballybunion_Ice]

[Xela]

Barely touched a drop in the last few weeks :-(

[mjmooney]

[heystally!]

[trimandson]

WATER.

[villadude]

WATER.

Can't drink the stuff, makes me feel ill, have to have it with squash.

[trimandson]

Ugh! It's all about the water, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... H2O....

[heystally!]

Ugh! It's all about the water, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... H2O....

Ga-tor-ade

[starsailor9774]

[snowychap]

But in a handle.

[Dom_Wren]

id love a pint right now, at work.....then soccer practice.....then a cold beer to end the day with Yuengling, cheap at the store.

[leviramsey]

I haven't had a beer in over a month and a half.

[snowychap]

I haven't had a beer in over a month and a half.

Liquor only?