Why you should drink green beer!

Two of the fastest growing niche markets within the craft beer segment are ciders and organic beers. This article will help you to understand the fundamentals of organic beer. It will also inform you as to why you should care about this important section of the beer market. To start things off, everyone is excited by profits and growth!

In 2009, the craft beer industry grew 7.2%, and another 11% in 2010. In addition, the number of breweries in the United States exploded to 1,759, a number which has not been seen since the late 1800s (98% are craft brewers). With so much variety in the craft beer market, the consumer is doing more research on their favorite beverage and becoming more aware of what they are purchasing. Between 2003 and 2009, organic beer sales boomed from $9 million to $41 million, according to Sustainable Business Oregon. This leap indicates a growing population of people who want to contribute to the green movement for one reason or another.

Craft Beers

Organic farmlands are better for the earth than conventional farms, requiring 50% less energy to maintain. Organic farmlands also absorb and store carbon dioxide, thereby reducing greenhouse gasses. Before the 19th century all beer was organic, we CAN turn back the clock and get chemical fertilizers, pesticides and toxins out of our food supply. With the increased demand for organic foods and beverages, more conventional  farms will convert to organic farms. If every beer drinker raises a glass of organic beer, we could really make a difference!

The EPA attributes 70% of the pollution in rivers and streams to the methods of conventional farming.

Not all beers labeled with the word "organic" are equal. There are three specific levels of organic certification. Beer that is labeled as "100% Organic" must contain only organically produced ingredients and processed with only organic processing aids. When beer is labeled "Organic" it must contain 95%-100% organically produced ingredients. Finally, when a beer is labeled "Made with Organic Ingredients" it must contain at least 70% organically produced ingredients. Armed with this knowledge, you can decide if you want to help take the organic beer movement to the next level.

Homebrewers can purchase their own organic ingredients for beer making. Brewing with Breiss (www.brewingwithbreiss.com/Products/Organics.html) offers a selection of organic malts, in 1990 the company was recognized as the "first malting company in the United States to become certified organic." This is a great opportunity for homebrewers to branch into an expanding segment of the craft beer segment and experiment with organic brews. You could use Peak Organic or Wolaver's as examples.

Wolaver's and Peak Organic logos - look for these brands at the store!

The North American Organic Brewers Festival (www.naobf.org)  goes beyond in promoting the earth-friendly variety of beer. For their event in June of 2011, their mission was to have less than 100 pounds of trash at the end of their beer festival. This festival featured dozens of different organic beers and live music. Other highlights of the festival included reusable cornstarch cups, compostable flatware and plates, reusable event signage, and electricity from bio-diesel and solar generators.

With organic beers typically costing the same or a similar amount of money as craft beers, the incentive of doing something good for the environment and the body compels people to try these beverages. Beer drinkers are a diverse group of people, and there will continue to be trends in the beer market that follow our evolving societal and world views.

What organic beers have you tried? How do you feel about the organic beer segment? Let us know below!

Stay Safe this Holiday

At this time, we would like to wish you and your family a joyous Holiday Season. We would also like to remind you to drink responsibly. If you do drink, make sure to have a safe way of getting home, not driving drunk. If you choose to drive drunk, aside from it being against the law, you could severely hurt or even kill someone, let alone yourself. So please, don't take the risk. Be safe and responsible this Holiday Season. Have a designated driver or call a cab. Miller Lite offers a great FREE application available on the iPhone App Store and Blackberry App World. Take them time to get it today. Thank you.

The Taxifinder is a free app available for download now.

Hosting a Beer-Tasting 101, Part 2

Once you are set on what you want to do for your party in the way of beer, get prepared for the party by setting up a folder for each person with a couple sheets of paper in them. These sheets of paper should include but not be limited to: rating sheets with space for comments for each beer, menu for each beer that could be describing the beer in a language that even someone new to the beer scene would understand, pairing notes if someone wants to take these sheets home a prepare food, and lastly extra paper in case your guests decide to jot down any notes for themselves while tasting the beer.

Give your guests proper time to observe every aspect of the beer.

Some more prep that you will want to make sure is set the day of the party is that you have proper glassware that is “beer clean.” This means that there are no oils or soapy residue that can ruin the beer. If that happens, your guests will not enjoy the night or even the beer that you have taken so much time to pick out for their enjoyment. As far as specific glasses go, you can use a regular pint glasses or even wine glasses. Do not use plastic cups. These will not allow proper viewing of the beer and really, it just looks a bit on the trashy side. So take the extra time and put the beer in some real glassware. Wine glasses can be bought in 4 packs at a cheap price. There is no reason to go all out on the glasses.

Glassware can affect how the beer is perceived by the palette.

When you are set with this step, make sure that you have a pitcher of water as well as what is called a “swill-bucket.” The water can be poured into the glass and used to cleanse the palette after each beer as well as to rinse the glasses after each sample. Once the glasses have been rinsed, that water must be poured into the bucket as to ensure there is no contamination of beer. Your guests want to taste one beer at a time and enjoy them, make sure that they do that.

Along with the water, have some palette cleansing foods available. These could simply be bread, crackers, or even popcorn. Some parties have gone as far as to having chicken wings at their parties. You could also serve fruits, cruidités, mild cheeses, and lastly patés. If you wanted the party to last a bit longer, you could decide to do a full course menu and actually make a beer dinner out of the event.

Proper temp is crucial!

Once all the preparation is set and your guests are invited, make sure to take your beer out of the refrigerator to allow it to come to proper temperature. Americans are often thought to drink beer at too cold of a temperature, which does not allow all the full flavors of particular beer styles to make themselves known. Typically, the higher the alcohol content, the higher the temperature. For those beers, you will want the beer at 55-60°F. For reference, these styles would be your barley wines, dark ales, imperial stouts, imperial IPA’s. For beers like your standard ales, IPA’s, dobbel bocks, abbey ales, lambics, and stouts, you will want them at a temperature range of 50-55°F. Lastly, your lagers, pilsners, and wheat beers will ideally be served at 45-50°F.

When pouring the beer, make sure to remember that you and your guests are sampling the beer. You don’t need to pour them a full glass. Typically, a good sized sample is about a third of a glass. You could go a bit smaller but not too much. Make sure that there is enough there so people are able to taste the beer and enjoy it. If a guest wants more of a particular beer, there will be extra. If you want to get an idea of how much to pour into the glasses, practice before the party with some water.

Make sure to allot enough time so that people will be able to digest and get the alcohol through their systems. It is not a good idea to send guests out on the roads drunk or buzzed. Be responsible. You are the host. You could invite some non-drinkers to the party or arrange a way for your guests to get home. Again, you could also make it so there is enough time for your guests to get sober. The choice is up to you.

So if you are thinking of throwing a beer-tasting party, make sure to take these simple steps. It will make for a night of great fun with friends and great beer. Get your guests vocal about how they felt about each brew. Maybe incorporate a game between each beer. Have fun with it; don’t just throw the beer styles at your guests to have them sample the beer. And as always, be responsible. Don’t drive drunk or let your friends drive drunk. Enjoy!

How do you enjoy your favorite beer? At room temp, colder, warmer? We would love to know! Please make sure to comment below!

Hosting a Beer-Tasting 101, Part 1

Looking for a way to get all your friends together this winter and have a great time? Why not host a beer-tasting? A beer-tasting is a great way to bring everyone together and is a great time had by all.  They’re easy to prepare for and little clean-up is required afterwards. So here is some quick information to assist you in being the host of the next great party.

The first thing you are going to want to start off with is how many people you want to invite. A safe range of people is 4 to 10 guests. This will make it manageable and will not end up taking up the entire day or night. Once you have the amount of guests you plan to host, the next step you want to move on to is the most important, the beer!

Exactly what styles of beer you would like to sample at the party is completely up to you. Head down to the local package or liquor store to see what is available. While you have this option available, you could also ask the people you invited to the party to bring their favorite brews to share with everyone at the party and call it a “Favorites Mash-up or Mix.” You could also go that same route but assign a specific region to each of your guests and ask them to bring two different beers from that specific region. This could be a “Tastes of the World.” If you wanted to pick the beer up yourself, you could just as well use these same options.

Choose carefully. Don't make boring choices.

Another way of sampling beer is to have one set brewery (examples: Samuel Adams, Wachusett Brewing Company, Boulevard Brewing Company, Innis & Gunn, Shipyard, Sea Dog, Harpoon) and have several different styles that they offer. In doing so, you may create fans of your favorite brewery and increase their fan-base. You might even decide to try a brewer that you have yet to try. Be careful though, as there is risk of picking a brewer that neither you nor your party likes.

You could also to do a particular style of beer. These would be if you were to sample different lagers, stouts, ales, IPA’s, or any style really from several different breweries. Then, you and your party can decide based on your reviews which you feel offer the best interpretation of a set style. This can often be fun as many of the breweries come up with very different and strange names for their take on famous brews.

When you have come to a complete decision on what exactly you are going to do for your beer party, go to your local package or liquor store and pick up the beer. However, you do not want to pick these up too far in advance, as to ensure the best tasting and freshest beer is offered to your guests. You wouldn’t want anyone tasting sour or stale beer, would you? No, you wouldn’t. Make sure that you store the beer in your refrigerator and at an upright stance. This insures that the metal cap does not impart any bad taste into the beer. Also, make sure that you have enough, so if people want more of a particular beer that they liked, there is more available. One idea could be to put together a custom 6 pack for each guest. Give this to them as they head out the door as a party favor maybe. Or, if done earlier, maybe a couple people will trade with each other on a particular style they liked.

Set the beer up in an interesting way. This is an example of light to dark.

If you were holding a beer-tasting, which styles of beer or which brewery would you bring to the table? We would love to hear from you!

Make sure to check back next week as we continue this post on Hosting a Beer-Tasting 101. As always, remember to drink responsibly.