Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) & Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) : Courtesy Anheuser-Busch)

Anheuser-Busch recently announced to its fifth Brew Across America Congressional Brewing Competition. And this year it was a bipartisan effort, pitting teams made up of Democrats and Republican lawmakers (who worked with Anheuser-Busch brewers) in effort to win the vaunted Brew Democracy Cup.

Over the summer, members of Congress and their bipartisan buddies visited an Anheuser-Busch brewery across the country and worked alongside brewmasters to create a signature beer inspired by local flavors and ingredients from their districts.

Each participating member of Congress worked alongside a bipartisan buddy to brew their beer, which highlights the nonpartisan nature of beer and helps strengthen the ties between members across the aisle.

On September the five teams had their bipartisan beers judged by a panel of “experts” in Washington DC and the 2022 Brew Democracy Cup winner was announced.

And Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), along with his bipartisan buddy Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) took top honors for their Seventeen Finger Select which they brewed along with the Anheuser-Busch team at the Fort Collins Brewery in Colorado.

“Montanans know good beer. So, while I’m not all that surprised, I’m very proud that Senator Rounds’ and my beer—the Seventeen Finger Select—is taking home this year’s Brew Democracy Cup,” said Senator Jon Tester. “I’ve always said that family farm agriculture is fundamental to preserving our democracy, and there’s no better toast to that than bringing folks together over a beer brewed with barley I grew on my own family farm in Big Sandy.”

The other beer names and participating Members of Brew Across America 2022 were:

• Emerald Palmer , brewed by Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) and the Golden Road Anaheim Pub
• Legen-Dairy Stout , brewed by Rep. GT Thompson (R-PA), Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) and the Anheuser-Busch St. Louis Brewery
• Paw-Paw Bear , brewed by Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV), Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) and the Anheuser-Busch Los Angeles, CA Brewery
• Reaching Across the Ale , brewed by Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA), Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) and the Devils Backbone Outpost
• Seventeen Finger Select , brewed by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) and the Anheuser-Busch Fort Collins Brewery
• Sugarhouse Ale , brewed by Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and the Anheuser-Busch Merrimack, NH Brewery

At the 2019 competition, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and the St. Louis Brewery team won the cup with “Big House Brew.” In 2018, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Goose Island Beer Company won the cup with “Scout’s Cerveza.” And in the inaugural competition of 2017, Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) and the St. Louis Brewery team won with “Gateway IPA.”

“Bringing people together over a beer has long been a central ingredient of everything we do at Anheuser-Busch,” said Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch….. Thank you to all the Members of Congress for advancing those goals through Brew Across America.”

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(All image credits: Anheuser-Busch)