(NYTIMES) — KRÜN, Germany — It is a tale of beer summitry gone awry.
The day after President Obama clinked glasses of Bavarian ale with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in a picturesque village square at the foot of the Alps, the town’s mayor confirmed that his beverage had been nonalcoholic, something of a cultural crime in a country where beer is practically a national religion.
Mr. Obama’s carefully choreographed sausage-and-beer moment with Ms. Merkel – complete with townspeople in traditional dress and long alphorns serenading them – was intended in part to showcase the leaders’ warm bond after a period of recent strains in their relationship.
The president went out of his way to praise the scenery, the weather and the beer, joking in his public remarks in the small town that he was going to ask Ms. Merkel, who was hosting the Group of 7 conference of world leaders at a nearby castle and luxury resort, if the meetings could be held in the village instead, over beer.