Sixpack Sez

June 15, 2007 | Secret's out on hops and organic beer

ORGANIC BEER'S dirty little secret is finally out in the open.

Namely, that one of its main ingredients - hops, the bitter, aromatic flower that spices beer - isn't really organic. Almost all U.S.-made organic beers contain hops that have been chemically treated to fight mildew and insects.

Many organic brewers take advantage of an odd loophole in whole-food rules that says just 95 percent of a product's ingredients need be organic to qualify for that green-and-white "USDA Organic" logo on its label.

Beer is mostly water, so while hops provide a good part of a beer's aroma and flavor, the flowers are only a fraction of the total ingredients.

Few leaf-eaters knew about the loophole till last month, when the USDA released a list of 38 non-organic ingredients that it plans to permanently approve for use in organic food.

The food and beverage makers behind the exemptions say the ingredients - mainly food colorings - are not commercially available in organic form. (At deadline, the agency had not yet announced its final order.)

Even then, the secret might not have leaked; organic beer is a tiny niche in the beer biz.

But it spilled all over when organic activists discovered that one of the petitioners asking for the hops exemption was big, bad Anheuser-Busch. The brewing giant produces two organic beers at its Merrimack, Conn., plant: Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale, both of which use non-organic hops. Without those hops, it said, sales "would be negatively impacted."

Critics howled that the USDA was bending its rules for a corporate powerhouse.

Russ Klisch, president of Lakefront Brewery, in Milwaukee, which uses organic hops, charged that the move would give "an unfair competitive advantage to the macro-brewers" because non-organic hops are cheaper.

Anheuser Busch's attempt to add hops to the exemption list, Klisch said, is "a threat to organic certification at best, and intentionally misleading to consumers at worst."

A-B, however, is hardly the only brewer producing organic beer with non-organic hops. Wolaver's of Vermont, a longtime organic craft brewer, uses them to supplement its organic supply.

Without non-organic hops, Geoff Masland of Peak Organic in Maine wrote in support of the exemption, the company would be unable to brew "premium organic beer."

The issue here isn't about quality or even food safety. Because it undergoes extensive boiling and fermentation, non-organic beer is every bit as pure as organic.

Instead, it's about supply.

Currently, almost all organic hops are grown in New Zealand, with only a couple varieties (mainly Hallertauer) available in quantity.

Activists and some brewers had hoped A-B's entry into the sector last year would encourage U.S. farmers to begin devoting acreage to organic hops.

"Part of being in the organics business is to try to compel farmers to grow the ingredients you need," said organic brewer Morgan Wolaver.

But A-B said in its USDA petition there simply isn't enough quantity and variety to produce its organic brands.

It backed up that claim with letters from its suppliers, all agreeing that several varieties of organic hops are not commercially available.

What the company failed to mention, however, is that most of the hops are grown at its very own, 2,800-acre Elk Mountain Farms in Idaho.

Which begs the question: Why doesn't A-B grow organic hops itself?

A-B didn't reply to that question, but in a statement, Doug Muhleman, A-B's vice president of brewing operations and technology, said the company is moving in that direction.

"We have now begun brewing our nationally available organic beers with 100 percent organic hops, although at this time we have a limited amount of organic hops available," Muhleman said.

If the company needs any help, Klisch might be able to lend a hand. He said he recently began growing his own organic hops in Wisconsin, on two small fields with about 300 plants.

"Look at us, we're just a bootstrap operation, but we're growing our own," he said. "If people were really behind the organic movement, they'd do what I did and grow their own."

Reach for these organic brews

Looking for beer with organic hops? Most of them are made in Europe, but there are a few domestic producers.

In California, Eel River Brewing's Dave Pimsner says all of his flagship beers - IPA, extra pale ale, porter and amber - are organic.

Same goes for Fish Tail Brewing's organic amber, IPA and pale ale.

From Belgium: Cantillon Lambic Bio, Brasserie de Silenrieux's Joseph Spelt Ale and Sara Buckwheat Ale, and Brasserie Dupont's Foret.

From Germany: Pinkus Organic Ur Pils.

From England: Samuel Smith's Organic Lager and Organic Ale, and Caledonia Golden Promise.