White House Beer Sells For $1,200 At Auction to Benefit Minnesota Hospital

A man who got a bottle of White House-brewed beer from President Barack Obama on the campaign trail auctioned off the brew for a good cause.

Beer enthusiast Brad Magerkurth was excited to receive a bottle of White House Honey Ale from the commander-in- chief himself.

Magerkurth, a traveling salesman for the Artisan Beer Co. in Minneapolis, was at the Coffee Connection in Knoxville, Iowa, as Obama was campaigning in the swing state in August, according to Obamafoodorama.

The two connected over their love of the White House-brewed pale ale and Obama had an aide get a bottle for Magerkurth from his private supply in the campaign bus Ground Force One.

"I was pretty ecstatic," Magerkurth told Obamafoodorama. "For someone in the beer industry, it's about the coolest thing in the world."

Instead of keeping the beer for himself, Magerkurth offered it for auction at the Taste! food and drink festival at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium in September and it sold for $1,200.

According to Obamafoodorama, such a price is usually reserved for rare wines at auction; 10 people chipped in the buy and share the 12-ounce beer.

Magerkurth said a lot of pomp and circumstance went onto opening the beer.

"The University of Minnesota marching band played 'Hail to the Chief,' and then we cracked open the beer. We all shared it on the stage,” he said.

Magerkurth donated the money to the University of Minnesota’s Amplatz Children's Hospital.

The White House released the recipe for the White House Pale Ale in September following a petition started by a Redditor in August invoking the Freedom of Information Act, according to the Huffington Post.

The petition garnered the 25,000 signatures required for the White House to respond to the request, after which Press Secretary Jay Carney announced that the recipe would be unveiled for the public.

The White House released the recipe and a tutorial video on its YouTube Page on Sept. 1.