28 February 2010

Another "Beer Summit" Coming?

Via Reuters and the Washington Post:

VANCOUVER (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper unwittingly provided support for the popular belief that politicians cannot organize a booze-up in a brewery when they mixed up a simple wager on the outcome of Sunday's Olympic ice hockey final.
With their two countries playing each other in the gold medal match, the two leaders agreed to raise the stakes and wage a personal bet on the outcome.
The only problem was that they messed up the terms of the bet, with both offices issuing media statements that the winner had to buy the beer rather than the loser.
After being told about the error, both offices agreed that the loser would pay so if the Americans won, Harper had to buy Obama a case of Yuengling beer.
If the Canadians won, Obama owed Harper a carton of Molson Canadian.The U.S. beat Canada in the preliminary rounds of the competition but the two rivals followed different routes to the final to set up a mouthwatering end to the Vancouver Winter Games.



Fron the Toronto Globe & Mail:
Barack Obama will have to shell out $45.40 for a case of 24 Molson Canadian, after losing a bet to Stephen Harper.
The U.S. President can blame Sidney Crosby, who scored the winning goal in overtime to win the Olympic gold medal in men's hockey on Sunday.
In American dollars, that would be about $43.20.
After the game, the Prime Minister visited the Canadian locker room, telling the players that he’s looking forward to receiving that case of Molson.
Mr. Harper also told the team, “Guys, we’re really proud of you all. You’ve done a great job on behalf of the country, not just this gold - which we all wanted so bad - but 14 gold, an Olympic record for any country in the Winter Olympics.”
The statement was provided by the PMO.
Mr. Harper and Mr. Obama had laid it on the line for the epic match. This being hockey, beer was involved.
If the U.S. men’s hockey team had won, Mr. Harper would have had to purchase a case of Yuengling for his U.S. counterpart. Yuengling, based in Pennsylvania, is the oldest brewery in the United States.
The leaders' wager, meanwhile, follows a bet between White House spokesman Robert Gibbs and the Prime Minister’s spokesman, Dimitri Soudas. They bet on the outcome of the women’s gold-medal hockey game.
The Canadians prevailed, and Mr. Gibbs must wear a Team Canada jersey at his next press gaggle.
“Red and white bring out the colour of Robert’s eyes,” Mr. Soudas joked Sunday after the men’s game.
“I’ll be sending Robert a Team Canada jersey to remember and cherish for the rest of his life the closest friendship between any two countries in the world,” said Mr. Soudas.
“I look forward to seeing him wear the jersey of the True North Strong and Free!”
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister and his son, Ben, attended the game with Wayne and Janet Gretzky. Mr. Harper also sat with the Gretzkys for the gold-medal final that saw the Canadian women’s team beat the U.S.
Mr. Harper has been everywhere at these Games over the weekend. On Saturday, he attended two gold-medal finals: men’s curling and long-track speed skating team pursuit. The Canadians won those, too.
A student of hockey and a big fan, however, Mr. Harper had said in an interview Saturday night that the Canadian men’s team “should win.”
“Man for man, our team is the superior team,” he told CTV’s Olympic sportscaster Brian Williams.
“But let’s not kid ourselves the most consistent team in this tournament to date has been Team U.S.A. So our guys have to come ready to play, 60 minutes, every man, if we do that, we will win and we should win.”
He was right.
Reports indicate the wager is based on the oldest breweries in operation within the two countries.  But Molson is now part of the Coors empire.  So which hurts more: losing the bet, or buying beer from a company run by a family known to be staunch Republican supporters?

Canadian commentators, however, are currently in overdrive suggesting real Canadian representative beers.....

1 comment:

west77 said...

Stephen Harper should have bet for a Big Rock brewery beer as it is not only Canadian but also based near his constituency riding in Calgary.