DrinkTheEarth.com Blog

For those of you who didn’t catch up to our Twitter posts, below are the six organic beverage facts we sent out earlier in celebration of Earth Day.  We hope you took a chance to reflect on our planet’s future on this important day of awareness and appreciation.

Earth Day Fact #1: Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery lays claim to the first U.S. certified organic beer, an E.S.B. made in 1996.

Earth Day Fact #2: Nearly all wines contain some sulfites naturally, including those made following organic or biodynamic practices.

Earth Day Fact #3: The USDA National Organic Program was implemented in ‘02, although other certifications have been around much longer.

Earth Day Fact #4: Approx. 70% of all Demeter-USA certified biodynamic wineries are in CA. Nearly 20% are in Ore., with the rest elsewhere.

Earth Day Fact #5: N. Dakota has been called the ‘Napa Valley of Rye’, and is where several organic distillers source rye for their vodkas.

Earth Day Fact #6 (and last): NYC’s GustOrganics is the only organic bar certified by the USDA.

Next up:  Look for a write-up from our Earth Day Organic Vodka tasting coming soon.  We tasted three organic selections, Crop, TRU, and Rain, against a well-known  non-organic offering.  How did the ‘green’ options fare?  Find out shortly.

New editorial features!

Need a fresh suggestion for an organic wine to pair with your next dinner?  Want to impress your friends with knowledge of the latest eco-friendly cocktail on the market?  We’ve recently added some new editorial features to DrinkTheEarth.com, including a weekly organic/biodynamic wine selection of the week, as well as organic beers & spirits of the week.  Wine selections will be updated every Monday on a weekly basis, while we will be featuring new beers and spirits each month.  These will include new-to-market beverages, as well as those that might not be easy to find at your local corner wine and beverage provider.  Oh, and we’re also open to recommendations.  As much as we’d like to, we can’t possibly spend all of our time searching the web for the latest in organic drinks.

Still confused about what makes a beverage organic, or what those certifications really mean?  We’ve also made enhancements to our online Resources, including several new organic beverage FAQ’s.  There’s a lot of confusion still out there, so we’ll be adding to our list of questions in the coming weeks or months.  Have a suggestion for what else we should include?  Feel free to let us know.

In our last post, we talked about the sustainability efforts many wineries have undertaken who are otherwise not ‘certified’ organic.  A lot of non-certified wineries we’ve spoken to are either slowly moving towards eco-friendly farming practices, like pulling back on chemicals used in the vineyard, or are taking steps to become more energy efficient in other aspects of the business, such as using solar power.  We recently interviewed Dan Del Grande of Bison Brewing Company (article to appear on the site soon as our next Eco Chat), who made an interesting comparison between the wine and beer markets. 

Dan said that brewers can learn a lot from their wine brethren, many of whom are pursuing sustainability for what he considers the right reasons; to protect the environment, be carbon-neutral (or at least get closer to carbon neutrality), and perhaps most importantly, because they think it’s best for the consumer.  From his perspective, some beer makers who are either brewing organically or are considering it see organics as simply a market niche; they aren’t as sold on whether it is best for the end customer.  Whether it’s because organic wine has received more publicity or the winemakers simply view their businesses differently, many of them have already made that leap.  Assuming he’s right, it will be interesting to see if the relatively nascent organic spirits market follows a similar evolution.

I had been meaning to do an organic beer tasting ever since I brought home a selection of multiple eco-friendly brews from my local Whole Foods last month.  Last Sunday afforded such an opportunity for myself and my wife, the latter being a novice beer drinker who only recently has ventured outside of her comfort zone of wine.  Evaluating the collection of certified organic beers in my refrigerator for the tasting, I decided to focus on Ales, one of the most common types of beer you can find on the market.  Not wanting to isolate the delicious beverages from a good meal, I decided to sample them with one of their most frequent companions at the dinner table or any restaurant - the American style pizza.

The three selections came from different places on the Ale spectrum.  Beer #1 was a Lamar “L” Street Organic Pale Ale, made by Goose Island Beer Company of Chicago, Illinois.  Certified by the Oregon Tilth, this organic beer carries aromas of floral and citrus.  Our 2^nd selection was a USDA-certified Wolaver’s India Pale Ale, made by Middlebury, Vermont’s Otter Creek Brewing Company.  Very true to form for an IPA, this beer contained generous amounts of hops, with a real spiciness and malt balance.  Lastly, our third and final choice was the Cru d’Or, and USDA-certified organic Belgian Dubbel-style ale made by the North Coast Brewing Company of Ft. Bragg, California.   

The beers were all relatively close in color, in particular the two pale ales (not surprising) which both carried a light golden brown coloring.  The “L” Street Pale Ale was definitely a bit cloudier than the Wolaver’s IPA, which was the only discernible difference between the two.  The Cru d’Or was noticeably cloudier still, with an amber color and a more pronounced foamy head than either of its counterparts.

With the beauty pageant portion of our tasting now out of the way (really, does the color matter that much if a beer tastes good?), we zeroed in further on the smell and taste.  We found the aromas of citrus in the “L” Street definitely carried all the way through to the finish, in particular a strong hint of apples.  With a 4.5% ABV, it carries about as strong of a kick as you might expect from a Pale Ale, with a yeasty finish.  The Wolaver’s IPA carried the usual bitterness of the style brew it is, despite having a more subtle aroma than we were expecting.  It definitely had a more relaxed malt balance as well, but there was still no mistaking that this was a full-flavored beer.  Recommended for spicier foods than what we were eating on this day, the Wolaver’s IPA is 6.5% ABV.  Last but not least, the only Belgian-style ale in our tasting did not disappoint.  With a large floral head and caramel aroma that also carried through to the taste, the Cru d’Or featured a very fruity flavor.  At an 8% ABV, this is also no drink for a lightweight, either. 

Overall, we were collectively impressed by what we sampled.  My personal favorite of the three ended up being the Cru d’Or, although it should be pointed out that I have a weakness for most types of Belgian beers.  My wife gravitated to the “L” Street Pale Ale, primarily due to its tastes of citrus and hints of bread and yeast.  Overall, there certainly could be worse ways to enhance a Sunday evening while eating a delicious pizza.

The city that never sleeps now has an organic watering hole to contribute to its ongoing insomnia.  Last month, Manhattan’s GustOrganics opened a bar inside of its Greenwich Village restaurant, featuring a menu entirely comprised of organic beers, cocktails, wines, and liquors, as well as fresh organic fruit.  Impressively, the bar makes the claim as the first to be certified organic by the USDA.

Taking its commitment a step further, GustOrganics also features a wind turbine on the roof (must be an interesting sight in NYC), and menus made from 100% recycled paper and soy ink.  For those not able to live in the big city, we hope this is a sign of a new nightlife eco-trend to come.