Release of White House beer recipes scores Obama points with Charlotte brewmasters

The Democratic convention has just started, but President Obama has already scored major points with a small but passionate segment of the North Carolina electorate: beer lovers.

The administration agreed over the weekend to release the recipes for the White House’s brews after beer lovers launched an Internet petition. Brewmaster John Marrino, founder of The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery in Charlotte, N.C., thinks that’s a swell idea.

“We think it’s great that they’re brewing beer in the White House,” the North Carolina Brewers Guild board member told The Hill via email. “Beer has been so important to the development of the civilized world, and the history of the U.S., that we believe it’s appropriate to celebrate this important ‘food’ (beer is liquid bread, after all).”

“And while we don’t know what it will do vis-à-vis the political inclinations of the Charlotte beer-drinking community, one thing we do know is that it’s very hard to dislike someone who’ll sit down and have a discussion over a beer with you.”

Adrian Grenier of HBO’s “Entourage,” who is in town for the convention and has his own brewing company, wants to try the White House brew.

Grenier told us, “I’m a beer enthusiast; I absolutely would love to try the beer.”

North Carolina boasts the largest number of craft breweries in the American South, with more than 50 breweries and brewpubs. It’s also the most decorated state in the South, with more medals from the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival than any of its neighboring states.