Biden's "Two Beers a Week" / Biden Alcohol Czar

Overview

Biden's "Two Beers a Week" and Biden Alcohol Czar refers to an August 2023 rumor within the United States media about acting President Joe Biden purportedly considering limiting Americans to "two beers a week" as per a statement from George Koob, Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), who said that the NIAAA was considering following Canada's footsteps on alcohol guidelines. Although many conservative pundits on Fox News and X likened the statement to a beer ban and started calling Biden and Cobb "alcohol czars," Cobb's statements did not mention Biden and, if placed into effect, would only be a health recommendation to Americans (identical to the same health recommendation given to Canadian citizens by their government). Regardless, many spread the rumor of a ban that would be bound by Biden's law going into August 2023, fully culminating in a video of Texas Senator Ted Cruz condemning Biden's supposed "two beers a week" mandate by drinking beer with other men behind him. Many subsequently made fun of the video on social media.

Background

On August 24th, 2023, news tabloid the Daily Mail^[1] published an article called "Biden's alcohol czar warns Americans could soon be told to limit themselves to just two beers per WEEK under strict new booze guidelines" in which they interviewed Dr. George Koob, the director for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and discussed the NIAAA's consideration of lowering the recommended per week consumption of alcohol to two drinks a week per person.

If the NIAAA decided to change the recommendation, it would go into effect in 2025. Koob said that he and others were considering the change after seeing their Canadian counterparts lowering their country's recommendation. Nowhere in the article did Koob mention President Joe Biden or say that he was guaranteeing the recommendation change.

Soon after, other tabloids like the New York Post^[2] published articles and echoed the rumor on X.^[3] On August 25th, the story was picked up by Fox News, evident in a clip posted to YouTube^[4] of a segment called "LAST CALL," gaining roughly 86,400 views in six days (shown below).

Online Reactions

Reactions to the imagined "two beers a week" mandate started to spread online in late August 2023. For instance, on August 26th, 2023, users on X started to quote a post shared by X^[4] user @GigaBeers (shown below, left), such as X^[5] user Catturd who made a joke at Hunter Biden's expense, gaining roughly 4,900 likes in five days (shown below, right).

Developments

Peter Doocy's Question At White House Press Briefing

On August 28th, 2023, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked the White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, "Does President Biden want to limit Americans to two beers a week?" bringing up Dr. Koob's quotes from the Daily Mail article. Jean-Pierre dismissed the question (YouTube^[6] upload shown below).

Ted Cruz's Video

On August 30th, 2023, X^[7] user @Acyn posted a clip of Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Newsmax in which he condemned "these idiots" who wanted people to drink two beers a week. He then said that they could "kiss my ass," to which he drank a beer with the men behind him. He also brought up Bud Light's Dylan Mulvaney Partnership.

The post gained roughly 9 million views and 3,300 likes in one day (shown below). An hour later, Ted Cruz posted a different clip of the same segment to his X^[8] account, gaining roughly 1.5 million views and 16,200 likes in one day (shown below).

Cruz: If they want us to drink two beers a week, they can kiss my ass… pic.twitter.com/cu17K9yMmx

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 31, 2023

Online Reactions

The clip quickly resulted in numerous reactions from users online, many of whom highlighted that "two beers a week" was a health recommendation and not a mandate. For instance, on August 30th, 2023, YouTuber Justin Whang posted to X^[9] about the difference, gaining roughly 1,900 likes in one day (shown below, left). Others humorously ridiculed Cruz, such as X^[10] user @KrangTNelson on August 31st, who called Cruz's sip "the worlds tiniest hummingbird sip of beer," gaining roughly 9,200 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References