The Year Of Organic Beer

In the last decade, craft beer has made a breakthrough both in awareness and in sales. While the industry booms, so does the interest in brewing organic craft beers. This interest in green beer was witnessed at last weekend's Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo. Over 2,375 beers were served by over 450 breweries from across the nation, and a good handful of them were purely organic. This year two organics took home medals: Organic Deranger Imperial Red Ale by Oregon's Lauralwood Brewing Co. and Napa Smith Organic IPA from the California brewery of the same name. Even though organic beer has caught on and more people are brewing it, pure organic operations are still rare. "Far more common than fully organic breweries are brewers who have one or two organic releases," said Paul Gatza Organic, who added that a big reason for this is because hops can be difficult to source.