Day 219 of our Green Year: Organic Beer

A few weeks ago, Layla and I made the commitment to go green with our wine. As I said then, we do not drink very often. In fact, we drink on very rare occasions like anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, New Years or Valentine's Day, and we committed to only buying organic wine for those special days.

Well, we do drink beer on occasion, again not too often, but we figure if we are going green with our wine, why not go green with our beer. Hence, from now on we will be buying organic beer, rather than typical name-brand beer.

Organic beer is exactly how it sounds. It is beer that is made with organic ingredients, which are grown in a sustainable manner. We are going to be looking for some organic beer brands in our area when we do want beer.

We are also considering being like one of our readers, Jim, who actually makes his own beer. We do not have all the equipment for it, but if we are able to find what we need, then we may start brewing our own beer here at the ranch.

From what we have read, organic beer now makes up dozens of brands, all of which carry a organic certification to show they have adhered to the strict and legally binding regulations. This means no pesticides, artificial fertilizers, chemicals or any other type of harmful elements are used in growing the barley and hops.

We also found some interesting statistics regarding the environment and beer.

• In the United States, there are four solar powered breweries
• Organic beer sales in the United States reached $25,000,000
• A total of 95 percent of the ingredients must be certified organic to get organic certification.
• Even the company that makes Budweiser has two organic beer brands that have been released to the public.
  

Day 187 of our Green Year: Organic Wine

Here at the ranch, we are not big alcohol drinkers, but on occasion we do enjoy having wine. However, wine is not exactly a sustainable product as it takes energy and land resources to make it. However, along with many other things in our world, wine is now going organic as well.

Layla and I want to make sure that when we have wine to celebrate New Years Eve, our anniversary or Christmas, that it is wine that was grown in a sustainable manner. Hence, from now on we will ensure that the wine we do buy is wine that is organic and sustainable. Some of the varieties that we have found, and will try out to find the best, are the following:

• Tiny Medlock Ames is in Sonoma and it uses 100 percent solar powered machinery, sheep to trim weeds and organic grapes for its Bell Mountain Ranch Red.
• Bonterra has 1,000 acres of natural and organic vineyards in Ukiah, California, where they deal with pests by using native insects. They produce Syrah, which is a great wine from what we have read.
• In Oregon, you will find Cooper Mountain, a 123 acre estate that has organic and salmon safe wine (don't know why salmon play into it but they do). They joined a carbon emissions elimination program with 23 other Oregon wineries as well. Their signature wine is the Pinot Noir.

We are currently looking to find some wine that is produced in the Okanagan in an organic and sustainable manner. If anyone knows of one, please let us know by sending us an e-mail to craigbaird@wildmail.com

There are also plenty of organic beers out there, or you can make your own like one of our readers does. if you want organic beer, which by law has to be 95 percent made from organic ingredients, you can try the following blends.

• Butte Creek Brewing's Mateveza
• Veec Acai Spirit
• 4 Copas (the only organic tequila in the world)
  
• Maison Jomere

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Below is a picture of me with the new Greenpeace calendar. Purchases of the calendar go towards helping Greenpeace keep the world clean and safe for the environment.