HOMEBREW: Obama’s Honey Porter recipe

Obama is the first President to brew beer in the White House. Here's the recipe for the Honey Porter 

"I think it’s time for beer” -Franklin D. Roosevelt (March 12, 1933)

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all enjoyed a beer in office, and Barack Obama is no different. In fact, he commissioned three beers all using honey collected in the White House: a honey blonde, a honey brown and a honey porter, and it’s the latter that we’re reproducing here (it’s a malt extract brew). 

Obama himself bought the kit for the kitchen and employed the advice of a couple of homebrewers on White House staff and a local brewmaster. After a petition, the White House

HOMEBREW: Obama’s Honey Porter recipe

Obama is the first President to brew beer in the White House. Here's the recipe for the Honey Porter 

"I think it’s time for beer” -Franklin D. Roosevelt (March 12, 1933)

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all enjoyed a beer in office, and Barack Obama is no different. In fact, he commissioned three beers all using honey collected in the White House: a honey blonde, a honey brown and a honey porter, and it’s the latter that we’re reproducing here (it’s a malt extract brew). 

Obama himself bought the kit for the kitchen and employed the advice of a couple of homebrewers on White House staff and a local brewmaster. After a petition, the White House released the recipes.

 

 

So, here’s the recipe (US measurements): 

White House Honey Porter

Ingredients

2 (3.3) lb. cans light unhopped malt extract

3/4 lb Munich Malt (cracked)

1 lb crystal 20 malt (cracked)

6 oz black malt (cracked)

3 oz chocolate malt (cracked)

1 lb White House Honey

10 HBUs bittering hops

1/2 oz Hallertaur Aroma hops

1 pkg Nottingham dry yeast

3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling

 

Directions

1. In a 6 qt pot, add grains to 2.25 qts of 168? water. Mix well to bring temp down to 155?. Steep on stovetop at 155? for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 2 gallons of water to 165? in a 12 qt pot. Place strainer over, then pour and spoon all the grains and liquid in. Rinse with 2 gallons of 165? water. Let liquid drain through. Discard the grains and bring the liquid to a boil. Set aside.

2. Add the 2 cans of malt extract and honey into the pot. Stir well.

3. Boil for an hour. Add half of the bittering hops at the 15 minute mark, the other half at 30 minute mark, then the aroma hops at the 60 minute mark.

4. Set aside and let stand for 15 minutes.

5. Place 2 gallons of chilled water into the primary fermenter and add the hot wort into it. Top with more water to total 5 gallons if necessary. Place into an ice bath to cool down to 70-80?.

6. Activate dry yeast in 1 cup of sterilized water at 75-90? for fifteen minutes. Pitch yeast into the fermenter. Fill airlock halfway with water. Ferment at room temp (64-68?) for 3-4 days.

7. Siphon over to a secondary glass fermenter for another 4-7 days.

8. To bottle, make a priming syrup on the stove with 1 cup sterile water and 3/4 cup priming sugar, bring to a boil for five minutes. Pour the mixture into an empty bottling bucket. Siphon the beer from the fermenter over it. Distribute priming sugar evenly. Siphon into bottles and cap. Let sit for 1-2 weeks at 75?.

 

Time will tell if Donald Trump has a taste for barrel-aged beauty from Wicked Weed or enjoys watching the game with a can of Modern Times IPA. 

Let us know how you get on with the beer. 

 

 

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