Beer Uniter Not Divider

Through beer exchanges and numerous emails, I've developed a friendship with fellow beer brewer/blogger Dave @ Muckney Brewing in Western Pennsylvania. During an email exchange this summer about organic brewing, we came to realize that while we could have spirited, respectful discussions, we were not very close on the political scale. As the election season heated up, Dave and I have been emailing each other to get a sense of how the "other side" is viewing the current election. After a few back and forths, it was clear that he wasn't going to become a liberal anytime soon, nor me a conservative. Deciding that instead of trying to convince the other of our position, I proposed that in the spirit of "reaching across the aisle" that we should brew a collaborative beer. That being the same recipe, mine being organic, and his being non organic (I might have mentioned something about him using the blood of an endangered animals as well).
Dave loved the idea, and we set about trying to come up with a style and recipe. Bi-Partisan Porter was born, and Justin (Dave's brew partner) came up with the idea of using coffee, something I had wanted to do sometime anyway. It gave us another ingredient we could compare, since I could use fair trade coffee and he could use coffee "picked by slave children" as he put it.
I'm pretty excited about the idea. As regular readers of this blog should know, I don't try to push any agenda. I believe in organic brewing and organic/sustainable farming in general. This blog is dedicated to my growth in that realm, and hopefully getting some others interested. I'm not looking at this as a way to "convert a conservative." I'm simply looking at it as a great "point/counterpoint" and a way to brew the same recipe in both an organic and non-organic way.
Plus a collaboration project just seems like a fun thing to do. So stay tuned to my site and Muckney's for the updates.
Another quick note- I'll be reviewing some brews Ted at Tedbrews sent me...the two I've had have been outstanding. That might even be an understatement. His tripel was dead on...and I'm a big fan of tripels. So I'll be reviewing those soon as well.
One final note...regardless of who for, don't forget to vote. Well...some of you might want to say home....just kidding. kind of.
Salud!
The Bearded Brewer