White House divulges Barack Obama's honey beer recipe

The White House has released details of one of its most closely guarded secrets - the recipe for President Barack Obama's home-brewed honey ale.

The beer is believed to be the first-ever made at the White House.

The recipe was kept under wraps until 13,000 people signed an online petition demanding to know it, and someone even filed a freedom of information request.

Mr Obama has been taking the beer with him on the campaign trail, and is said to be known to offer it to voters.

For weeks, the White House had refused to comment on the recipe, but the secret was finally aired in a blog post entitled "Ale to the Chief".

The long-awaited special ingredients include: light malt extract, amber crystal malt, honey, gypsum, yeast and corn sugar.

"With public excitement about White House beer fermenting such a buzz, we decided we better hop right to it," says the White House's assistant chef Sam Kass, who brews the ale.

Although Mr Kass is the brewer, the White House stressed that it was Mr Obama who bought the equipment and pays for the ingredients out of his own pocket.

There is also a video on how the beer is brewed. "God, that is one incredible beer, if I do say so myself. America I wish everyone could taste this but we don't quite brew enough," Sam Kass comments at one point.

The BBC's Zoe Conway says cynics may say there is more than a bit of politics in the mix.

One of the oldest political cliches states that people vote for the person they would most like to have a beer with - and Mr Obama's rival in the November election, Mitt Romney, a Mormon, does not drink.

白宫近日公布了它保守最严的秘密之一——奥巴马总统自家酿造的蜂蜜麦芽啤酒的配方。

据认为这种啤酒是白宫里头一回酿造的啤酒。

这一配方一直秘而不宣，直到1.3万人联名签署了一份网上请愿书，请求告知这种啤酒的配方，甚至还有人为此提交了一份信息自由请求书。

奥巴马在竞选巡回演讲途中一直带着这种啤酒，据说他还曾经请选民喝过。

几周以来，白宫一直拒绝对该配方做出评论，但现在这一秘密终于在一个题为“首脑的麦芽啤酒”的博客帖子中公之于众。

这一期待已久的特制配方的原料包括：淡麦芽提取物、琥珀水晶麦芽、蜂蜜、石膏、酵母和玉米糖。

酿造这一麦芽啤酒的白宫助理厨师山姆•卡斯说：“因为公众对白宫啤酒的热情引发了不小的骚动，所以我们决定最好还是赶紧把秘方告诉大家。”

尽管卡斯先生是酿造者，但白宫强调是奥巴马购买的酿酒设备，而且他自己掏钱购买的原料。

还有一个关于如何酿造啤酒的视频，山姆•卡斯在视频中评论道：“天啊，这种啤酒真是妙不可言，如果让我自己说的话。我希望每个美国人都能尝尝这种酒，可惜我们酿不了那么多。”

英国广播公司的佐伊•康威说，愤世嫉俗者也许会说这其中夹杂着不少政治用心。

有一句政界的老话，就是人们会给他们最愿意一起喝啤酒的人投票，而奥巴马在十一月大选中的竞争对手米特•罗姆尼是摩门教徒，滴酒不沾。

Vocabulary:

gypsum: 石膏

hop to it: 赶紧做

Mormon: 摩门教徒。摩门教宣传一夫多妻制，总会位于盐湖城。