The Lead

Oatmeal no more, Casey chugs 11 a.m. beer after Pennsylvania certifies results

By: - November 24, 2020 3:29 pm

Screenshot of Twitter video

What’s in the bottle, Bob?

That’s the question that has riven Pennsylvania Politics Twitter, after U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, posted a video Tuesday of him celebrating the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results for President-elect Joe Biden,

In the 10-second video, Casey opens the beer, holds it up for the camera, before taking a big glug and nodding.

In the background is a map of Pennsylvania’s counties, a nod to a series of 40 social media videos Casey made explaining the election results to viewers.

“The votes are in. The count is certified. @JoeBiden has won the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (again). And that’s a wrap on the 2020 election here in the Keystone State,” Casey wrote in the Tweet. We should note — it was posted at 11:11 a.m. on a Tuesday morning.

While the certification of Pennsylvania’s almost 7 million votes, and 20 electoral votes, is a big deal, what many politicos seemed to latch onto was a simple question — with which potent potable did Casey choose to celebrate? 

In the video, we get only a brief glimpse of the bottle. But its label is clearly a robins egg blue, similar to a color used by Victory Brewing Company, based in Downingtown in Chester County.

Democratic County Commissioner Josh Maxwell noted that Casey, of Scranton, is “a fan” of the brewery.

That led Pennsylvania Twitter’s assorted drinkers to suggest a wide variety of Victory’s brews, from a Winter Cheers — 6.7 percent alcohol — to a Dirt Wolf  — 8.7 percent — to a Golden Monkey — 9.5 percent — as culprits. 

To emphasize again, the video was posted before noon, on a weekday, from a politician who was once compared to oatmeal.

But astute viewers also pointed out that Casey is wearing the same outfit in this morning’s video as he wore in a Nov. 22 video describing Democrats’ mail-in ballot advantage. 

And “those close to Casey on Twitter” told Pittsburgh City Paper the beer was, in fact, a Hop Devil IPA, at 6.7 percent.

So perhaps Casey didn’t let loose as much as we thought. But some mysteries are better left unsolved.

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Stephen Caruso
Stephen Caruso

Stephen Caruso is a former senior reporter with Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Before working with the Capital-Star he covered Pennsylvania state government for The PLS Reporter.

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