Bipartisan brews: lawmakers compete in brewing competition

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Beer and bipartisanship.

A congressional brewing competition returns to Washington, D.C. after taking a year off due to the pandemic.

This summer, lawmakers picked ingredients unique to their districts and states, and worked with breweries around the country to develop the final products. They were were judged Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, (D-NH) said, “I worked with [Sen.] Susan Collins from Maine and our beer is to reflect New England in the fall. So it’s a cider ale brewed with apple cider brewed on cider donuts.”

Shaheen and Collins brewed a beer named “Unanimoose Consent.”

Freshman Congresswoman Kat Cammack, (R-FL) worked with fellow freshman Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). The pair brewed “Orange You Glad I Didn’t Order Wine”.

Cammack said, “We chose a Tahitian vanilla along with an orange zest because there’s one thing that Florida and California have in common and that is oranges.”

This competition is organized by Anheuser-Busch.

In past competitions, lawmakers competed alone, and just worked with brewmasters. This is the first year lawmakers had to team up across the aisle. An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson says it’s an effort to heal the nation’s political divide with beer.

Sarah Schilling, the senior general manager at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Williamsburg, VA said, “We need cooperation with a collaboration we do that as brewers every day.”

Shilling said she hopes to make the bipartisan teams a yearly tradition.

This year, breweries in Missouri, Colorado, Florida, New Hampshire, and California helped make the beers a reality.

Copyright 2021 Gray DC. All rights reserved.