Obama’s beer bet with the Canadian prime minister

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Sending Yuengling to Canada may sound more like a balancing of the trade deficit than the honoring of a gentlemen’s wager. But a bet is a bet. And President Obama will be sending a case of Yuengling, America’s oldest brew, to Canada’s prime minister after the U.S. lost to Canada Sunday in the Olympic men’s hockey final.

The stunning victory by the Olympics-hosting Canadians was clinched with an overtime goal by Sidney Crosby. It cost the U.S. another gold medal. The U.S. ended up with nine; the Canadians, 14.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had pledged a case of Molson, his nation’s oldest.

OpenSecrets.org, which can find a connection between money and influence in virtually anything, had tried to imply something bigger than a bet in all of this, noting that MillerCoors, the merger of two big U.S. brands that owns Molson, is one of the most powerful lobbying forces among alcohol-related special interests. With $2.22 million in lobbying expenditures last year, MillerCoors trailed only the Distilled Spirits Council, Anheuser-Busch (Belgian) and Diageo (international.)

But the president, who opted for a Bud Light when he hosted the famous ‘beer summit’’ with the professor and the policeman at the White House last year, will be shipping the Canadian a true home-brewed Philadelphia brand.

-- Mark Silva