You may have already forgotten that the Republican National Convention just happened last week in Milwaukee. It brings me no pleasure to remind you of it, but I’m bound by duty, honor, and your subscription fees to make sense of drinking in America, and I regret to inform you, last week’s ritual self-esteem boost for GOP nominee Donald Trump and his new running mate/large adult son JD Vance had some beverage-alcohol subplots.
I think these various threads are worth weaving back together at least briefly before they fray into the memory-addling ether of another week’s news cycles. The full, weird, Trump-drunk force of the national Republican party was on bold parade last week in Cream City, and as alarming as it may be, it’s also clarifying to look closely which brands and industry leaders are welcomed into those ranks, and why.
In recent years, reactionary drinkers have loudly objected to having politics “rammed down their throats” by drinks brands’ Pride promotions, craft breweries’ drag-queen brunches, and even unfavorable reporting on corporate political spending. Last week’s embrace of ideologically aligned elements of the bev-alc industry is just one more reminder that the objection is never the principled “apolitical” stance it’s often held out to be. It’s just a grievance against politics they don’t like. They’re glad to guzzle their own brand, same as it ever was. Forget the 2024 RNC at your earliest convenience, but never forget that.
The booze-oriented items that stuck out to me from last week’s conservative coronation included: