Beer Enthusiasts Disappointed in Obama's Choice of Beverage for Summit With Professor, Cop

Some beer enthusiasts aren't pleased with President Obama's brew of choice.

The president has decided to drink Bud Light at a White House "beer summit" Thursday evening, when the president will play host to the black professor and white cop at the center of a race relations dispute.

Weather permitting, Harvard Professor Henry Gates and Cambridge, Mass., Police Sgt. James Crowley will meet with Obama over beers at a picnic table in the Rose Garden. The meeting was arranged in an effort to defuse a racially charged controversy that garnered international attention when Obama dove into the discussion.

White House officials say the meeting will be very informal, demonstrated by the selection of beers to be served -- Bud Light for the president, Red Stripe for Gates, who may bring friends or family, and Blue Moon for Crowley, who is bringing his family as well as his police union head and lawyer.

Tom Dalldorf, publisher of Celebrator Beer News, an online magazine based in California, suggested Obama's choice may have been influenced by young White House staff members searching for the most neutral, least offensive beer.

"Some 20-something staffer must have said, 'How about Bud Light? It's the best seller in the country,'" Dalldorf said in an e-mail to FOXNews.com.

"Sadly, Budweiser was purchased last year by a Belgian/Brazilian consortium for $52 billion," he said. "Almost enough to get the president's health care reform bill paid for. If you want foreign beer, how about Tsingtao from China? Since they hold the note on the majority of our national debt, can you think of a better choice?

"What a glorious moment for politics," he added. "Not a good day for beer."

Aides say the "beer summit" is an opportunity for everybody to get to know one another and step back from the circumstances that pushed them to the front of the news.

Crowley arrested Gates on July 16 after he responded to a 911 call of a possible break-in. But the man breaking in was Gates, and he was breaking into his own home upon his return from a trip to China. Crowley took Gates into custody on a disorderly conduct charge after the professor accused the sergeant of racial profiling.

The men are welcome to talk about that event and the surrounding imbroglio if they want to during a photo opportunity at the summit, White House spokesman Rob Gibbs said.

But the lesson to be learned is the picture of harmony, and the idea that people can sit down and discuss tough issues without being disagreeable, he said.

"This is not an after-action report," Gibbs said, adding that the White House "is not here to mediate any apologies."

The practical purpose of the summit is to bookend the incident and put it behind Obama, who suffered a 41 percent disapproval rating for his handling of the incident. The poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found 29 percent approved of his involvement.

The two men involved in the arrest would also like to end the attention. Crowley said he would like to get the reporters off his lawn. Gates has seen the media repeatedly air pictures of him in handcuffs.