With public excitement about White House beer fermenting such a buzz, we decided we better hop right to it.

Inspired by home brewers from across the country, last year President Obama bought a home brewing kit for the kitchen. After the few first drafts we landed on some great recipes that came from a local brew shop. We received some tips from a couple of home brewers who work in the White House who helped us amend it and make it our own. To be honest, we were surprised that the beer turned out so well since none of us had brewed beer before.

As far as we know the White House Honey Brown Ale is the first alcohol brewed or distilled on the White House grounds. George Washington brewed beer and distilled whiskey at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson made wine but there's no evidence that any beer has been brewed in the White House. (Although we do know there was some drinking during prohibition…)

Since our first batch of White House Honey Brown Ale, we've added the Honey Porter and have gone even further to add a Honey Blonde this past summer. Like many home brewers who add secret ingredients to make their beer unique, all of our brews have honey that we tapped from the first ever bee-hive on the South Lawn. The honey gives the beer a rich aroma and a nice finish but it doesn't sweeten it.

If you want a behind the scenes look at our home-brewing process, this video offers some proof.

So without any further ado, America – this one's for you:

Download a printable PDF of both recipes.

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˚.

White House Honey Ale

Ingredients

• 2 (3.3 lb) cans light malt extract
• 1 lb light dried malt extract
• 12 oz crushed amber crystal malt
• 8 oz Biscuit Malt
• 1 lb White House Honey
• 1 1/2 oz Kent Goldings Hop Pellets
• 1 1/2 oz Fuggles Hop pellets
• 2 tsp gypsum
• 1 pkg Windsor dry ale yeast
• 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming

Directions

1. In an 12 qt pot, steep the grains in a hop bag in 1 1/2 gallons of sterile water at 155 degrees for half an hour. Remove the grains.
2. Add the 2 cans of the malt extract and the dried extract and bring to a boil.
3. For the first flavoring, add the 1 1/2 oz Kent Goldings and 2 tsp of gypsum. Boil for 45 minutes.
4. For the second flavoring, add the 1 1/2 oz Fuggles hop pellets at the last minute of the boil.
5. Add the honey and boil for 5 more minutes.
6. Add 2 gallons chilled sterile water into the primary fermenter and add the hot wort into it. Top with more water to total 5 gallons. There is no need to strain.
7. Pitch yeast when wort temperature is between 70-80˚. Fill airlock halfway with water.
8. Ferment at 68-72˚ for about seven days.
9. Rack to a secondary fermenter after five days and ferment for 14 more days.
10. To bottle, dissolve the corn sugar into 2 pints of boiling water for 15 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 2 to 3 weeks at 75˚.

First Lady Michelle Obama addresses hundreds of chefs from around the country during a “Let’s Move!” event on the South Lawn of the White House, June 4, 2010. The First Lady called on chefs to get involved by adopting a school and working with teachers, parents, school nutritionists and administrators to help educate kids about food and nutrition. June 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

What an amazing day! Today, hundreds of chefs from over 37 states gathered on the South Lawn of the White House in support of the "Chefs Move to Schools" program, a part of the First Lady's Let's Move! Campaign to end the epidemic of childhood obesity. I had the pleasure of introducing Mrs. Obama who reinforced what this program is all about in her remarks:

That's why we created the “Chefs Move to Schools” program, to pair chefs like you with interested schools in your local communities. And together, you’ll be helping students learn where food comes from, and develop healthy habits. You’ll be elevating the role of food in our schools, and working to create healthy meals on a budget…

But each of you has so much to offer when it comes to helping our children make healthy choices. You know more about food than almost anyone -- other than the grandmas --and you’ve got the visibility and the enthusiasm to match that knowledge. That's really what’s key. Just watching you guys in action will -- it excites me, let alone my little girls who can’t stay out of the kitchen when Sam is cooking.

You can make a salad bar fun -- now, that’s something -- and delicious. You can teach kids to cook something that tastes good and is good for them; and share your passion for food in a way that’s truly contagious.

Our kids face a serious health challenges, and a major component of that is what they eat. The more the chef community focuses our hours of service on the issues we know best -- and the issues were we are best positioned to help -- the greater the chance that our efforts can have a lasting impact.

Small lessons like helping to teach a child how broccoli or cauliflower grows, or how to make a salad, or demonstrate a basic cooking skill that results in a delicious sweet potato can help put young people on the path of making healthy choices for years to come.

As of this morning, 990 Chefs and 488 Schools have signed up to be part of the Chef's Move to Schools initiative. See all of the participating chefs and schools across the country on this map. And it’s not too late for chefs and schools to sign up – today is just the beginning and so much can grow from this day.

First Lady Michelle Obama, with chefs Todd Grey from Equinox, left, and Sam Kass, from the White House, gestures during a “Let’s Move!” event with hundreds of chefs from around the country on the South Lawn of the White House, June 4, 2010. The First Lady called on chefs to get involved by adopting a school and working with teachers, parents, school nutritionists and administrators to help educate kids about food and nutrition. June 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

First Lady Michelle Obama greets one of the hundreds of chefs from around the country during a “Let’s Move!” event on the South Lawn of the White House, June 4, 2010. The First Lady called on chefs to get involved by adopting a school and working with teachers, parents, school nutritionists and administrators to help educate kids about food and nutrition. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

School children trim broccoli after harvesting vegetables from the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House. June 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

First Lady Michelle Obama, chefs from around the country, and a group of children harvest vegetables from the White House Kitchen Garden during a “Let’s Move!” event on the South Lawn of the White House. June 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Sam Kass is the White House Assistant Chef and the Food Initiative Coordinator

Today, I’m excited to announce the “Chefs Move to Schools” program – an opportunity for chefs around the country to adopt a local school to help solve the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation. In the words of the Mrs. Obama:

We are going to need everyone’s time and talent to solve the childhood obesity epidemic and our Nation’s chefs have tremendous power as leaders on this issue because of their deep knowledge of food and nutrition and their standing in the community. I want to thank them for joining the Let’s Move! Campaign.

“Chefs Move to Schools” will pair chefs with schools in their communities to bring fun to fruits and vegetables, and teach kids about food, nutrition and cooking in an engaging way. And by working with school food service employees, administrators and teachers -- chefs can help deliver these messages from the cafeteria to the classroom. After hearing fifth graders cheer for broccoli, I know firsthand that chefs can have a huge impact on kid’s health and well being.

Chefs and schools that are interested in participating can sign up here or through www.LetsMove.gov.

Sam Kass is the White House Assistant Chef and the Food Initiative Coordinator

Students from Bancroft have been helping the First Lady in her garden since the ground-breaking last year, and this new class of fifth graders proved to be just as talented in the garden as their former schoolmates. The kids from Hollin Meadows had impressed the First Lady with their amazing school garden when she had visited their school last year, so she invited them to come and lend their expertise.

First Lady Michelle Obama participates in the Spring Garden Planting Event on the South Lawn of the White House. March 31, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Fellow gardeners included Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and his wife Christy, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, National Gardening Association President Michael Metallo, Susan Sher, the First Lady’s chief of staff, Melody Barnes and Heather Higginbottom from the Domestic Policy Council, and White House Chefs Cris Comerford and Bill Yosses.

After cheers for broccoli, carrots, spinach, lettuce and peas, the First Lady made the call to plant! With an extra 400 sq ft of new land, we had a little more work to do than last year, but we also have an incredible array of vegetables including: broccoli, rhubarb, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, lettuce, peas, collard greens, chard and kale, cabbage, radishes, herbs and more.

The White House Kitchen Garden is a four-season garden and last year we harvested over 1,000 lbs of food. More important than the harvest though is the national conversation that has been started about the need for all of us to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and ensuring that everyone has access to fresh produce in their neighborhoods – key components of the the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative which is an effort to tackle the problem of childhood obesity in this country.

With Let’s Move! the First Lady is calling on everyone to come together to provide parents the information they need to make healthy choices for their families, to create healthier school environments, particularly school meals, to make sure that kids get 60 minutes of active play a day, and to make sure that everyone has access to fruits and vegetables in their communities. The garden is a beautiful and tangible piece of this national conversation.

Like the seeds and sprouts we just planted, Let’s Move! will continue to grow over the coming months. We will be sure to keep you up to date on how the First Lady’s garden, and Let’s Move! are growing. And in the mean time, Let’s Move!

Sam Kass is the White House Assistant Chef and the Food Initiative Coordinator

Farmers and gardeners around the world are extending their growing seasons through the very simple technology of hoop houses. We used a smaller version that is often referred to as high tunnels. The structures are simply a series of four or five metal bars arched over the beds about three feet high. Fixed to the bars is a simple plastic covering which traps the heat of the sun during the day to keep the plants from freezing at night.  

We were cautiously optimistic that our hoop houses would protect the crops and were pleasantly surprised.  All told we harvested just under 50lbs of produce. A modest harvest compared to what the summer had brought, but it is exciting to have been able to produce food during a long harsh winter. The lettuce and spinach are particularly sweet and delicious. We also learned a few things. For example, we planted our carrots a little too late. They were not as big as we had hoped, but the little things are tasty!  We also discovered that the beds to the north side of the garden get considerably more sun the beds that the beds on south side. The sun is much lower in the sky and late in the day the southern beds are shadowed by surrounding trees. Next year, we will be sure to put plants that need more sun on the north side of the garden. Good lessons to learn, but all together a nice surprise.

Over the next few weeks we will be getting the garden ready for our spring planting. Seeds are being sprouted and at the First Lady’s request we have expanded the garden by 500 square feet so we can grow even more varieties of fruits and vegetables. Needless to say we are excited for Spring so stay tuned!

The first three plantings of the White House Kitchen Garden were more bountiful than even we expected.  After harvesting the last of the fall planting, more than 1007 lbs of produce was taken from the garden this year!   I think the garden has been the most delicious idea the First Lady has had yet!

While chefs in the kitchen have enjoyed cooking with the healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables immensely, we have also continued to learn a great deal about the impact of the garden on the dozens of school groups who have come to visit.  Their smart questions, insights and ideas never cease to amaze us. 

Over the past few weeks, we have worked to prepare the soil for the planting of the winter garden.  We are able to extend the growing season by using a simple, inexpensive cover called a high tunnel or hoop house.  A hoop house simply amounts to a series of metal bars set in a row over one of the beds, and a fabric or plastic pulled tight around the bars.  As the sun warms the garden during the day, the fabric traps the heat in, keeping the plants from freezing overnight.  Although there are many kinds of plants that aren’t able to grow even in the hoop houses, we are thrilled to have so many delicious things growing at this very moment!

We have planted spinach, lettuce, carrots, mustard greens, chard and cabbage, and we will add a few more varieties in the next couple weeks. I especially look forward to cooking with the spinach.  Winter spinach is extra sweet.  Sugar doesn’t freeze, so spinach produces extra sugars in the winter to protect itself from frost.  It tastes almost like candy.  We are going to make soups, salads and, of course, Chef Comerford’s famous cream-less creamed spinach.

In the area of the garden that is not being planted with vegetables, we are planting a cover crop of rye.  This is a technique that farmers use to help re-balance their soil and, most importantly, prevent erosion of top soil during the harsh winter.   This is an incredibly important technique that all growers can utilize. Topsoil is one of our most valuable commodities, and we are working hard to protect it. 

We are excited to be able to continue growing food year round here at the White House. 

Happy holidays and happy gardening! 

Sam Kass is an assistant chef and the Food Initiative Coordinator at the White House