白宮應公衆要求 公佈奧巴馬自釀啤酒祕方

The White House has released details of one of its most closely guarded secrets - the recipe for President Barack Obama's home-brewed honey ale.

白宮近日公佈了它保守最嚴的祕密之——奧巴馬總統自家釀造的蜂蜜麥芽啤酒的配方。

The beer is believed to be the first-ever made at the White House.

據認爲這種啤酒是白宮裏頭一回釀造的啤酒。

The recipe was kept under wraps until 13,000 people signed an online petition demanding to know it, and someone even filed a freedom of information request.

這一配方一直祕而不宣，直到1.3萬人聯名簽署了一份網上請願書，請求告知這種啤酒的配方，甚至還有人爲此提交了一份信息自由請求書。

Mr Obama has been taking the beer with him on the campaign trail, and is said to be known to offer it to voters.

奧巴馬在競選巡迴演講途中一直帶着這種啤酒，據說他還曾經請選民喝過。

For weeks, the White House had refused to comment on the recipe, but the secret was finally aired in a blog post entitled "Ale to the Chief".

幾周以來，白宮一直拒絕對該配方做出評論，但現在這一祕密終於在一個題爲“首腦的麥芽啤酒”的博客帖子中公之於衆。

The long-awaited special ingredients include: light malt extract, amber crystal malt, honey, gypsum, yeast and corn sugar.

這一期待已久的特製配方的原料包括：淡麥芽提取物、琥珀水晶麥芽、蜂蜜、石膏、酵母和玉米糖。

"With public excitement about White House beer fermenting such a buzz, we decided we better hop right to it," says the White House's assistant chef Sam Kass, who brews the ale.

釀造這一麥芽啤酒的白宮助理廚師山姆•卡斯說：“因爲公衆對白宮啤酒的熱情引發了不小的騷動，所以我們決定最好還是趕緊把祕方告訴大家。”

Although Mr Kass is the brewer, the White House stressed that it was Mr Obama who bought the equipment and pays for the ingredients out of his own pocket.

儘管卡斯先生是釀造者，但白宮強調是奧巴馬購買的釀酒設備，而且他自己掏錢購買的原料。

There is also a video on how the beer is brewed. "God, that is one incredible beer, if I do say so myself. America I wish everyone could taste this but we don't quite brew enough," Sam Kass comments at one point.

還有一個關於如何釀造啤酒的視頻，山姆•卡斯在視頻中評論道：“天啊，這種啤酒真是妙不可言，如果讓我自己說的話。我希望每個美國人都能嚐嚐這種酒，可惜我們釀不了那麼多。”

The BBC's Zoe Conway says cynics may say there is more than a bit of politics in the mix.

英國廣播公司的佐伊•康威說，憤世嫉俗者也許會說這其中夾雜着不少政治用心。

One of the oldest political cliches states that people vote for the person they would most like to have a beer with - and Mr Obama's rival in the November election, Mitt Romney, a Mormon, does not drink.

有一句政界的老話，就是人們會給他們最願意一起喝啤酒的人投票，而奧巴馬在十一月大選中的競爭對手米特•羅姆尼是摩門教徒，滴酒不沾。