No, the Joe Biden Administration is not banning beer: It’s yet another culture war about beer, this time centered on possible new guidelines from the Joe Biden Administration that might recommend fewer beers per week. But they are just those – guidelines.
Joe Biden and the ‘Beer Ban’
For the last several months, there’s been a major culture war centered on beer, which began when InBev’s Bud Light brand did a one-shot social media promotion with the transgender social media personality Dylan Mulvaney. This led to boycotts, anger, and Kid Rock shooting at cases of Bud Light (but later being spotted drinking one.) The controversy has continued to hurt InBev’s sales and stock price.
Now, there’s another beer controversy, and this one might be even more ridiculous.
The director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), an obscure government agency, has hinted that it may adjust the government guideline when it comes to how many beers are recommended per week.
According to The Daily Mail, Dr. George Koob, the director of the NIAAA, says that the agency “could revise its alcohol advice to match Canada‘s, where people are advised to have just two drinks per week.”
“If there’s health benefits, I think people will start to re-evaluate where we’re at,” Dr. Koob told the newspaper, of the current guidelines, which recommend that women have “one bottle of beer, a small glass of wine or shot of spirit a day,” while men can have two. Those guidelines are up for review in 2025, as part of the larger “Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030” report, and Koob is hinting at making them more strict.
To be clear, however: The guidelines are just those: Guidelines. They do not have the force of law. The government is not mandating that Americans only drink two beers (or fewer) a week, and there is no indication that anything like that is planned or can even be enforced. Besides, the existing guidelines are already in place now, and anyone who has been to a bar recently knows that they don’t stop people from ordering multiple drinks. The majority of Americans, almost certainly, had never heard of such guidelines before now.
So good news, beer drinkers: Six-packs and 24-packs will remain legal. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism does not have the power to reinstitute Prohibition.
But you wouldn’t know that from some of the media coverage.
Fox News went with the headline “Biden alcohol czar says US may follow Canada, limit beers to two a week,” adding a quote from Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), that “Biden’s beer czar has no business advising ‘guidance’ on alcohol consumption,” and that “this is who the Democrats are. They want to control every aspect of your life.”
The earlier guidelines, after all, are not a Biden Administration invention but have existed in their current form for more than 30 years, according to a quote in the Fox story from a Distilled Spirits Council vice president. And since they’re not up for review for two more years, there’s a chance any change wouldn’t even take place while Biden is still president.
The Daily Express ran with the headline “Biden’s beer ban: Americans may be urged to have just one drink a week under new plans,” even though an official talking about a possible change two years in the future to recommendations is not, under any definition, a “ban.” Outkick, meanwhile, went with “BIDEN’S ALCOHOL CZAR INDICATES AMERICANS SHOULD ONLY HAVE TWO DRINKS A WEEK.”
“Is this America or communist North Korea? Two beers a week is a joke. That’s a warmup for the guys before kickoff even rolls around. I can delete two beers from this Earth in a matter of minutes,” Outkick wrote in their story.
Once again: The Biden Administration is not proposing a hard limit on the number of beers per week that Americans can drink. It may, in two years, adjust those guidelines, which are not enforced in any way whatsoever. And anyone who wants to is welcome to ignore those guidelines, which they were likely doing already.
Author Expertise and Experience:
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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