I know that talking politics is a turn off, primarily because most of what we see isn’t moving this country forward or even talking or debating. It is one side saying they are right. Be it Trump and the Wallers or Burnies Against Math or Clinton Dancing around Questions.
Now that the final primaries have pushed Hillary Clinton into presumptive status vs Trump and a bruising six month campaign looms in front of us, it might be tempting to just drink beer to make the politicking fade into the background noise.
But it is important to pay attention and not just to the Tostada Tweets. Which of the two candidates do you think will be more favorable to craft beer? There are two items that loom large over the craft beer landscape currently. There is the Small Brew Act and then there is the BIG ABInBev all-but-done mega-merger. Those are very specific and since Trump is barely fleshing out his agenda, you can’t really predict precise support or non-support he would give to specific agenda points. With Hillary you can, at least, check out how friendly to small business and beer in general she has been since she has actual voting records to check.
But what I am more interested in, is the more abstract culture that the two candidates might create. Right now, with government entrenched like a tick, actualy passing legislation become almost an afterthought. Most bills come pre-watered down before they hit the hill, and now even that yellow fizzy water isn’t being passed. Or even debated.
And by culture, I do not mean the ubiqitous, “Would you drink a beer with this candidate?” nonsense. A president, like a parent, is not there to be your buddy. What I refer to is, will there be a free and open atmosphere that will allow breweries to open and/or expand. Will the multiple agencies that govern craft beer be smart enough about the topic at hand without being helmed by a big business insider who could actually rig a system? Will the people in the governmental trenches be allowed to be nimble enough to not get in the way when it is required and regulate when that is needed? Or will there be a tilt towards helping big business more?
Maybe a better (more fun) way to think about the two sides is to picture what type of brewery either side would have and what it’s flagship beer would be. You can make your own assumptions but here is what I think would have materialized if Clinton and Trump were in beer and not in politics.
Her brewery – Broken Glass Ceiling Brewing. We had to break the ceiling to add in our fermenters.
Her flagship – Like Me IPA – a rotating IPA series that uses whatever hops the whale hunters on Reddit and Beer Advocate say is cool
His brewery – The Best Brewery. All other breweries wish they could be as good but won’t be
His flagship – None. His brewery went out of business because all they did was Twitter all day.
You probably shouldn’t vote for a president based on the issue of beer but you should probably add it to the pro/con list that you have in your head.