Back to the Future of Organic Beer

There are in today’s marketplace many examples of beer being sold as “organic”. Today we will look at what it means to be organic, examine a brief history of the organic beer movement and a look at how this type of beer may be fairing among beer drinkers.

What is “Organic”?

Consumers today are bombarded with every type of organic product; organic vegetables, organic meat, organic skin care products and the list goes on and on. The use of the term “organic”; once a symbol of “purity” or good for the environment has, unfortunately, been degraded to be simply a marketing buzz word which is used to entice purchase by the more affluent members of our society. Generally, people are most familiar with (and passionate about) the organic foodstuffs; both plant and animal. The use of the term “organic” on any food product label is controlled, in the US, by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the USDA (US Department of Agriculture).

The USDA maintains a program called the National Organic Program which dictates a strict set of rules which must be followed for any agricultural product to be labeled “certified organic”. These agricultural rules and standards spell out under what circumstances products must be produced in order to qualify and broadly (I have tried to distill hundreds of pages of regulations) consist of:

• Prior to organic certification, farms and food production facilities must submit a detailed application, outlining the nature of their operation, the production/handling processes they use, and the products they produce. This is called an Organic Systems Plan and must be approved by the USDA prior to inclusion in the National Organic Program.

• Crop Production – In order to qualify, crops must be produced on fields which have been free of a long list of prohibited substances (chemical fertilizers and the like) for at least three years. The standards even dictate how so called “natural” fertilizers, such as animal manure, can be used on these fields. Genetically modified organisms are prohibited, of course.

• Livestock Production – In order to qualify, food animals and the products produced from them, including meat, milk, eggs and all byproducts (cheese, etc.), must be produced in an environment substantially free from non-qualified feed (limits on food supplements and additives) and using acceptable health care practices (limits on chemicals, drugs, hormones, antibiotics, etc.).

• Food Handling and Production – In order to qualify, food must follow strict FDA guidelines for safety, be produced so as to limit the exposure to “non-natural” techniques in preparation, strictly control what other additives are included during production and follow strict guidelines for post-production handling and treatment.

• Inspection and Verification – In order to qualify, farms and food production facilities are inspected at least annually by a cadre of third-party inspectors or certifiers, which look at both their farming and/or food production procedures and process to ensure that those outlined in their Organic Systems Plan are being followed. These inspections can be announced or unannounced and also include a review of the company’s purchasing records to, again, ensure that the rules are being rigorously followed.

• Food Labeling – In order for a food to carry the USDA “Certified Organic” label, it must be produced according the the rules above and must contain 95% organically produced ingredients with the other 5% of ingredients being listed on the USDA National List (approved non-organic products) and only if organic ingredients of the same type are not commercially available.

The History of Organic Beer

Let’s be clear about this; since beer’s “invention” nearly 5000 years ago and prior to the introduction of chemical fertilizers during the “Agricultural Revolution” in the 19^th century, all beer would have probably been considered “organic”. After the introduction of these soil amendments, even the ancient German Beer Purity Law of 1516 (Reinheitsgebot) did not protect these chemical elements from “contaminating” the beer that we drink. Organic beer was reintroduced to the commercial world about 1980 by the German brewery Pinkus-Mueller after their brewmaster became disenchanted with the quality of the commercially available barley produced using these chemical enhancements. In the US, commercial organic beer did not make its appearance until after the USDA setup the National Organic Program. In 1997, Robert and Morgan Wolaver opened what would eventually become Wolaver’s Organic Ales in Santa Cruz, California. Wolaver eventually purchased the Otter Creek Brewery in Middlebury, Vermont in order to solidify his organic beer production. Otter Creek was recently purchased by Long Trail Brewery, another Vermont brewer, but Long Trail will maintain production of the Wolaver’s Organic line of beers as well as the other fine Otter Creek brews. Since that time there have been dozens of organic breweries open both in the US and abroad (Germany has over 30 of them). Organic beer has even caught the attention of the mega-brewery Anheuser-Busch, which began production of some organic beers in 2006.

The Value Proposition of Organic Beer

As I stated near the beginning of this article, the sanctity of what “organic” is supposed to be has been severely tainted by the commercial marketing machine. However, the important distinction of being “certified organic”, because it’s use is legally defined by the strict rules set forth by the USDA and the FDA, continues to provide “legs” and momentum to the overall organic marketplace; the organic beer market included. In 2008, organic beer sales reached approximately $41 Million in the US. Even though that is still a tiny fraction of even the $6.3 Billion craft beer volume for the same year (which was only 6.3% of 2008 total US beer production), it still represented a 21% increase in year-over-year organic beer production, a hefty increase by anyone’s standards. The economic problems of 2009 into 2010 may cause a sag in the meteoric growth of this market for a few years, but I would hazard a guess that annual growth in organic beers sales is here to stay, at least for a while.

If you talk to the some of strongest proponents of the organic food movement, they will tell you that organically produced food and beverages are better for you, because they do not contain traces of the chemicals and additives used to produce “normal” food products, and that they taste better. I personally think that it is an easy conclusion that we would probably be better off without the chemicals and additives that most commercially produced food products contain; though I have to admit that my diet still does not contain a large portion of these foods. When it comes to purchasing organically grown fruits, vegetables and other foodstuffs there is also no question that they cost more and in many cases that price difference is significant. I would like to think that this price difference is due to the higher costs of production due, in part, to the shorter supply of these ingredients and the stringent rules for their growth or manufacture, but I wonder if that is entirely the case. As to the claim that organic foods taste better; I am not sure that applies to the organic beers. The taste of beer, good or bad, is definitely a personal opinion and everyone’s will be slightly different. I have tried a number of organic beers and some have been very good. However some have not been so good and I would not try them again. There are still many that I have not tried yet and my quest for good beer marches on.

The continued success of organic beer (and other organic products) will be heavily influenced by the same market forces as non-organic products; cost, availability, profit and the mind of the consumer. There is no magic bullet when it comes to convincing the broad market that your product is better than another and organic beer brewers have already discovered that. Right now, in comparison the 1000’s of other beers available to consumers, organic beers are still a virtual unknown to many/most beer drinkers. While I am certainly aware of these beers and will continue to try new ones as I run across them, I will not be limiting my beer choices to organic-only anytime in the near future.

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