Brew Organic

Ahh, the pastoral beauty of an organic world. Majestic, healthy trees, babbling brooks you can drink out of, children who don't have arms growing out of the back of their heads. Yes, doing away with chemical fertilizers and pesticides is nothing but good-good-good.

So it seems to make sense that organic beer would be good for you. And yet, there is trepidation out there when Anheuser Busch introduced two organic beers into several test markets.

So what's the deal? There is concern, perhaps legit, that when a great big player enters the organic market, they will be motivated to get the government to the lower standards of what makes something organic. They'll put the economy-of-scale beat down on organic farmers. They'll screw everything up. It's the same fear organic enthusiasts have about Wal-Mart, who recently announced it's intentions to expand their offering of organic food.

The counter argument is, of course, that if A-B offers organic, organic will be cheaper. More significantly, organic malt and hops will be cheaper. That's an issue. I homebrew, and I consider organic, but compare grain prices at the Seven Bridges Cooperative versus say, The Grape and Granary, and there's a pretty good jump in the cost of raw materials.

Now, as far as A-B organic offerings go (Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale, if you're looking for it), I believe that the skilled craftsman at the brewing giant will be as succesful as ever at eliminating every last bit of flavor from their all natural beers. Flavorless and flawless, as the saying goes.

Me? When I want to love my mother through beer drinking, I reach for a Samuel Smith Organic Lager, readily available, or the less widespread yet very tasty Lakefront Organic ESB.