Organic beer: list

[AshleyUNOB]

Having been to the Vermont Brewers Fest last weekend and tasted a very good organic IPA from Orlio Organic (wholly owned by Magic Hat BTW), I have begun thinking more about organic beers and wonder if this community could help me.

I'd like to build a list of all organic beers; so far, those I have tried or reviewed are

Logique Bio, QC

Mill Street Organic lager, ON

Orlio IPA (excellent!), VT

Orlio Common, VT

Muskoka Dark (excellent!), ON

Muskoka Cream, ON

I also tried a couple of the Peak Organic beers at the VBF, but I can't remember which right now.

Can anybody add to this list? If you know the brewer and location, then please include it. Thanks all!

[eje]

Hi AshleyUNOB... Welcome to eGullet!

It seems like I've tried more organic beers than this; but, I do like:

Wolovers from Vermont and Eel River from California.

[Shel_B]

Bison Brewing, Berkeley, CA

Goose Island Brewing , Chicago

Lakefront Brewing in Milwaukee

Fish Brewing Company, Olympia, WA

Butte Creek Brewing Company, Chico, CA

Shel

Edited July 31, 2007 by Shel_B (log)

[feedmec00kies]

not quite helpful but...

i haven't really had many organic beers (actually, i don't think i've had any.. only a celiac friendly beer that my boyfriend picked up for a glucose intolerant roommate of mine to try... it wasn't pretty), so i can't really personally add to your list. however, have you tried looking at beer rating site like ratebeer or beer advocate for this kind of information? i don't really know beer advocate, but if you go to ratebeer and do a search for "organic", you'll get a long list of things that are organic (or at least have organic in their names, i guess... sorry, it's not flawless, but i guess most organic beers will say they are in their names.. and it looks like the list is longer than 100... eep!). if you click on beer names, you can get brewer information and such. plus, you can see how people on the site who have drank them rated them. there may or may not even be a list of organic beers on one of those site, though i somewhat doubt it - things are grouped by style, and i don't know if many ratebeerians are interested in limiting themselves to organic beers (they usually rather go out of their way for good/rare stuff they can't get in their area).

also, you run into the problem that some of that stuff (like, not made by a larger microbrewery like magic hat) might not be available in your region... such is distribution.

i have to warn you, though: you may or may not be unhappy to see that beers you really like are rated low. i've realized that sometimes it's best not to let people know that their favorite brew isn't favored by those who frequent the site...

well, hope that helped anyway!

Edited July 31, 2007 by feedmec00kies (log)

[AshleyUNOB]

That's a great idea! Thanks to everyone who helped so far.

I didn't think of trying a search like that... I'll give it a go. 100+, well, it's good to know that these things are becoming more popular.

This is going to be a bigger task than I thought

[plattetude]

First that came to my mind was Ur Pils (Brauerei Pinkus Mueller), which has been around a good while. Anheuser-Busch apparently jumped on the organic bandwagon last year with Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale.

Christopher

[jesskidden]

A quick Googlin' will turn up a lot of "Organic" beers, as well as a controversy about the label (and, thus, the quotation marks)- since organic hops are apparently very hard to come by.

http://greenoptions.com/2007/06/28/organic...ky_organic_part

[AshleyUNOB]

Apparently, or so the brewmaster at Orlio says, it's impossible to obtain organic hops in the US, as there are almost no growers, so it's imported.

Thanks for that link, useful. I will add it to the organic beer page when I finally build it!

[mtigges]

There is a brewer in Salmon Arm BC producing excellent ales.

http://www.crannogales.com/

They are not available outside of BC though. I believe they use organic malts (from Canada Malting). They use hops grown on their own farm, spent grain feeds animals, and their waste water is used to irrigate the farm.

A very admirable operation.

Mark.

[AshleyUNOB]

Wow, great company ethics. I'll try to get Seb Lipsett to track some down. Thanks very much for that link.

[Malkavian]

Pisgah Brewing in Black Mtn North Carolina has some (perhaps all?) organic brews.

[Mallet]

St. Peter's Brewery makes a really nice organic ale.

[BrentKulman]

Pisgah Brewing in Black Mtn North Carolina has some (perhaps all?) organic brews.

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I have not been all that impressed with many organic brewers, but Pisgah is first class. Too bad its distribution is limited to western North Carolina, but it is definitely worth seeking out.

For those who don't have access to Pisgah, I would recommend Eel River, which is more broadly distributed.

[Malkavian]

Pisgah Brewing in Black Mtn North Carolina has some (perhaps all?) organic brews.

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I have not been all that impressed with many organic brewers, but Pisgah is first class. Too bad its distribution is limited to western North Carolina, but it is definitely worth seeking out.

For those who don't have access to Pisgah, I would recommend Eel River, which is more broadly distributed.

←

I'll take your reply to heart Brent, and give them another try--I have had a few of their brews at a small bar in Spindale, NC (my hometown) and was not impressed; not that it was bad, but had a somewhat funky (possibly adjunct-grain) taste. Suppose ti could be down to age of the keg or improper handling though, so I shall see if I can chase down some bottles or find it on draft at another location.

[AshleyUNOB]

We've got a couple of guys in NC, I'll try to get somebody to review it... Unless somebody here wants to? Thanks again for all the organic help, frantic notes being taken!

[TBoner]

There is a brewer in Salmon Arm BC producing excellent ales.

http://www.crannogales.com/

They are not available outside of BC though.  I believe they use organic malts (from Canada Malting).  They use hops grown on their own farm, spent grain feeds animals, and their waste water is used to irrigate the farm.

A very admirable operation. 

Mark.

←

This does sound like a good operation, but I have a question about the spent grains. It has been my understanding that spent grains are predominantly indigestible fiber and perhaps a bit of protein, and that as such they aren't great for animals: little nutrition and lots of methane gas. Anyone have any info on that?

Additionally, I remember reading about an operation somewhere in Africa (started by a Belgian company) that was designed to be zero waste. They used spent grains as a medium to culture and cultivate high-end mushrooms, and even recycle the CO2 produced during fermentation. I'll have to hunt down the link...

In the meantime, check out this blog for info on organic beer and brewing methods

http://beeractivist.wordpress.com/

EDIT: Well, here's the link to an article about that brewery. It's a bit old, but it's all I could find. Namibia Breweries seems to be doing well commercially, and has a website which doesn't explicitly discuss any zero-waste policies.

Edited August 8, 2007 by TBoner (log)

[jesskidden]

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This does sound like a good operation, but I have a question about the spent grains. It has been my understanding that spent grains are predominantly indigestible fiber and perhaps a bit of protein, and that as such they aren't great for animals: little nutrition and lots of methane gas. Anyone have any info on that?

←

Almost every brewery tour I've ever been on (dozens) mentions the giving away (or selling) spent grain to local farmers, so it's always amusing when people point it out as somehow exemplary when an individual brewery does it. (Think about it- if they just threw it out, they'd have to pay fees to the garbage hauler or land fill. Cheaper to give it away and let a farmer haul it away, even better, to sell it.)

Schlitz (at the time the #2 brewer in the US) even developed a commercially produced animal feed out of their's:

http://www.sudswineandspirits.com/milwaukeehistorytour.htm

(Near the bottom of the page, under "Murphy Products Company- MALTAGE" (the brand name, still sold IIRC).

Edited August 9, 2007 by jesskidden (log)

[TBoner]

Agreed that giving away or selling spent grains is common. But using the waste water for irrigation, using hops grown on your own farm, etc., seem above and beyond, which is why I thought it sounded like a good operation.

[eje]

Nice article in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

Organic brews make headway, Karen Solomon

But today's organic brews are coming of age. Their flavors compete with conventionally grown counterparts. At last year's Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo., organic beer took three gold medals, including Best Imperial or Double Red Ale, French or Belgian-Style Saison, and German-Style Pilsner.

[AshleyUNOB]

Can open... worms everywhere! Thanks again for all your assistance. I love the sound of that 'back to the earth' operation and I'm sure that's worthy of an article in itself.

The very scope of this tiny organic segment of beer makes me realise just how massive beer as a subject is becoming.

[IrishAdventurer]

Are you only looking for organic beers brewed in the US?

[AshleyUNOB]

Are you only looking for organic beers brewed in the US?

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No, the UNOB is a global beer project, so ANY organics are welcome

[IrishAdventurer]

Well, there are certainly some organic beers brewed in Britain and Ireland (I'll check up on those for you), but one beer you can certainly include is Budels Bio, from the Budels brewery in the Netherlands. It doesn't taste bad either. Apparently, even the energy used to brew it comes from renewable sources...

[AshleyUNOB]

Thanks IrishA. We don't have an Irish Beer Delegate yet, in case you're interested...

[Rebecca Kneen]

There is a brewer in Salmon Arm BC producing excellent ales.

http://www.crannogales.com/

They are not available outside of BC though.  I believe they use organic malts (from Canada Malting).  They use hops grown on their own farm, spent grain feeds animals, and their waste water is used to irrigate the farm.

A very admirable operation. 

Mark.

←

Thank you, Mark! That would be us - Crannog Ales. We use organic malt barley from Gambrinus Malting here in BC, as well as Briess Malting from Wisconsin (incidentally, it's all Canadian organic barley, apparently we do it best!). We use organic hops from our own farm as well as from the UK and New Zealand. There are no commercial organic hopyards in the USA that I know of yet, although there have been rumours... This is basically due to concentration in the hop industry, with all the farms being very localized. It's virtually impossible to grow organically in the middle of the same crop grown with chemical contaminants. Hence New Zealand and BC.

And our beers are draught-only, available throughout southern BC.

Come visit!

Rebecca