White House Brew Crew

President Barack Obama, right, and Vice President Joe Biden, left, have a beer with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., second from left, and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley at the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 30, 2009.

The meeting came about after Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested outside his Cambridge, Mass., home on July 16 by Sgt. Crowley. Gates accused Crowley of racial profiling, and President Obama entered into the fray by saying at a news conference the Cambridge Police acted "stupidly" in Gates' arrest. He later said he should have chosen his words more carefully, and invited the two men to share a beer with him.

Each man picked a different brew for the so-called "beer summit." President Obama had a Bud Light, Vice President Biden chose Buckler, Professor Gates picked Samuel Adams Light and Sgt. Crowley drank Blue Moon.

Earlier that day, President Obama said he was "fascinated" by the interest in his meeting with Gates and Crowley. He added that the idea for the "beer summit" came about when he was speaking to Sgt. Crowley and he said, "Maybe I'll have a beer in the White House someday," to which the president responded, "Well, I'm sure that can be arranged."

President Obama and Vice President Biden opted to shed their jackets for the meeting, while Sgt. Crowley and Professor Gates kept theirs on. The so-called "beer summit" took place around a wrought-iron table in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington.

President Barack Obama, right, and Vice President Joe Biden, left, reach for the snacks as they have a beer with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., second from left, and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley at the White House in Washington, July 30, 2009. Earlier that week, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the idea of serving snacks, saying, "We're just going to go straight beer. No sense in diluting it."

President Barack Obama, right, talks with Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley as he has a beer with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., not show, and Vice President Joe Biden in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 30, 2009.

Vice President Joe Biden, left, has a beer with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., second from left, and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley and President Barack Obama, not pictured, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 30, 2009.

After the meeting, President Obama said he was "thankful" that the two men sat down for a "friendly, thoughtful conversation" with him and Vice President Biden. "I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart," the statement continued. "I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."

A table is seen in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, where President Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Sgt. James Crowley sat down and had a beer, Thursday, July 30, 2009.