Hop To It: Organic Beer Gaining in Popularity, Gretchen VanMonette, Conscious Choice
When you need to satisfy your taste for a good ale, check the label first. From Chicago's Goose Island Brewing Company to Olympia, Washington's Fish Brewing Company, microbreweries across the country are starting to include organic beer on their menus. 'As part of the burgeoning demand for organic products, which has lately grown to become a $300 million industry, the demand for organic beer has helped bring beer back into its own as a carefully crafted beverage of choice,' writes Gretchen VanMonette in the Chicago-based green journal Conscious Choice. Attributing the growth of organic beer to the popularity of microbreweries, VanMonette writes, 'Beer brewed before the advent of industrial farming was handcrafted and organic, of course, if only because farmers did not depend on chemicals to raise their crops or industrial machinery to brew their beer.' To maintain an organic brewery, all crops must be certified organic as well as all vats and instruments. VanMonette's article includes links to the breweries she highlights. -- Sara V. Buckwitz
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