Denver’s Great Divide microbrewery has rolled out a medium-bodied “Liberally Hopped American Pale Ale” for the Democratic National Convention. Great Divide founder and president Brian Dunn’s rationale is simple: Since the spotlight is on Cow Town, there ought to be a malt beverage with a piney hop flavor for the Dems to enjoy after a hard day of delegating and whatever else they’re doing. And Dunn isn’t the only one brewing up political promos.

Because Avery Brewing is located in the People’s Republic of Boulder, you’d expect the company to hop aboard the Left Hops Express. Nope. Though the company is issuing a “limited batch” of Presidential Pale Ale and sending it around the nation in 22-ounce bombers and kegs for bars. The potent 8.75-percent-alcohol brew is nonpartisan and will, in egalitarian spirit, celebrate the presidential race–regardless of ideological leanings. Molson Coors is providing beer for scads of convention-related events, such as media briefings, and will also be donating “E-85” ethanol made from beer waste for flex-fuel convention vehicles, according to the Denver Business Journal. This raises two questions: 1) Where was all this ethanol when convention vehicles were scandalously filling up on Denver’s pumps tax-free? And 2) If the reporters happen to drink during media briefings, does it garner positive or negative headlines? Or any at all? Molson Coors, incidentally, is on the DNC’s list of Host Committee Partners, which means they’re contributing big bucks. So is Anheuser-Busch, which in corporate America’s tradition of betting on two horses in what comes down to a two-horse race, is also providing hospitality suites at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s wife, Cindy Hensley McCain, is chairwoman of Hensley & Company, a vital piece of Ansheuser-Busch’s national distribution.