President Obama on Saturday followed through on his promise to release two of the recipes for beer brewed at the White House.
The White House posted the recipes for White House Honey Ale and White House Honey Porter on the official blog after a few weeks of heightened interest in the recipes.
"It will be out soon!" Obama promised during a chat on the social news site reddit last week, when asked about the beer recipes. "I can tell from first-hand experience, it is tasty."
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration would release the recipe if enough beer-drinkers signed the official petition started on the We The People website, but that petition only has 12,240 signatures, far from the mandatory 25,000 signature requirement.
The White House decided not to make America wait, posting the recipes on the blog with the note: "So without any further ado, America – this one's for you."
The White House also released a behind-the-scenes video that shows kitchen staff brewing and bottling the beer.
"To be honest, we were surprised that the beer turned out so well since none of us had brewed beer before," White House Chef Sam Kass wrote in the blog post. "As far as we know the White House Honey Brown Ale is the first alcohol brewed or distilled on the White House grounds. George Washington brewed beer and distilled whiskey at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson made wine but there's no evidence that any beer has been brewed in the White House."
The beer has been brewed at the White House since Obama bought the initial home brewing kit for the kitchen there. The Obamas served the Honey Ale for the first time to guests for their Super Bowl party in March 2011.
Both recipes call for the honey tapped from White House beehives, which means home brewers seeking to mimic the recipes might never get quite the same flavor the president enjoys at home. But he has been known to offer a bottle to lucky citizens he meets on the campaign trail.
Earlier this month, the president sent back to Air Force One in order to get an Iowa resident a bottle after Obama had talked up the flavor of the White House beer.
