Throughout his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh made at least one thing very clear: He likes beer. A lot.
Kavanaugh mentioned his affinity for brewskis around 30 times Thursday as he defended himself against allegations that he sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in the early 1980s when the two were in high school.
We highlighted some of his more emphatic odes to beer below:
"Listen to the people I've grown up with and worked with and played with and coached with and dated and taught and gone to games with and had beers with..."
During his opening statement, Kavanaugh mentioned his beer drinking four times, saying that during the summer of 1982 — when Ford alleges he pinned her down, groped her, and tried to take her clothes off — he was cutting lawns, working out, lifting weights, playing basketball, and drinking beers with friends.
"When I was in town I spent much of my time, working, working out, lifting weights, playing basketball, or hanging out and having some beers with friends as we talked about life and football and school and girls."
He acknowledged that calendars he kept at the time indicated he went to gatherings at friends' houses to drink beer, but said none of those get-togethers included Ford or the people she said were at the party where she was sexually assaulted.
"The calendars show a few weekday gatherings at friends' houses after a workout or just to meet up and have some beers, but none of those gatherings included the group of people that Dr. Ford has identified."
"I drank beer with my friends. Almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers. Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer, but I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out and I never sexually assaulted anyone."
When asked questions by Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona sex crimes prosecutor who was there on behalf of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, about whether he drank alcohol in high school, Kavanaugh could not say enough times that yes, he did, in fact, drink beer.
"Yes, we drank beer. My friends and I. Boys and girls. Yes, we drank beer. I liked beer. Still like beer. We drank beer."
"And we — yeah, we drank beer and I said sometimes — sometimes probably had too many beers and sometimes other people had too many beers," Kavanaugh said.
"What do you consider to be too many beers?" Mitchell asked.
"I don't know. You know, we — whatever the chart says. Blood alcohol chart," he replied with a grin.
Mitchell then asked him a series of questions about whether there was ever a time when he didn't remember what happened when he was drinking.
"Did you ever wake up with your clothes in a different condition or fewer clothes on than you remembered when you went to sleep or passed out?"
"No. No," Kavanaugh said.
"Did you ever tell — did anyone ever tell you about something that happened in your presence that you didn't remember during a time that you had been drinking?" she asked.
Again, "No" was his answer.
Later, when Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse was asking Kavanaugh about a yearbook entry that referred to "Beach Week Ralph Club — Biggest Contributor," the Supreme Court nominee admitted that he is prone to vomiting while drinking.
"What does the word 'Ralph' mean in that?" Whitehouse asked.
"That probably refers to throwing up," Kavanaugh said.
After Kavanaugh went on a rant about how he “busted [his] butt in school,” Whitehouse asked him again if the yearbook entry referred to alcohol specifically.
“Did it refer to alcohol? Did it relate to alcohol?” the senator asked.
“I like beer. I don’t know if you do. Do you like beer, Senator, or not? What do you like to drink?” Kavanaugh said. “Senator, what do you like to drink?”
"Anyone who's known me like a lot of these people behind me, have known me my whole life, know, you know, I got a weak stomach, whether it's with beer or with spicy food or anything."
Beer came up again during questioning from Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who pressed Kavanaugh on how he could have remembered everything that happened while he was drinking.
"You said sometimes you had too many drinks. Was there ever a time when you drank so much that you couldn't remember what happened or part of what happened the night before?" Klobuchar asked.
"No," Kavanaugh responded.
"I remember what happened and I think you've probably had beers, Senator."
In his response, Kavanaugh asked Klobuchar if she has ever blacked out — a question he later apologized for.
"I'm curious if you have," Kavanaugh said.
"I have no drinking problem, Judge," she responded.
"Nor do I," Kavanaugh replied.