Since the turn of the millennia, two food trends have exploded across the country, and especially in Colorado: organic food and craft beer. While they have changed the way the state eats and drinks, they have yet to cross paths to impact one another at a substantial level.
According to the Organic Trade Association, hotspots for organic foods and agriculture include the west coast, the upper northeast and of course, the area around Boulder, Colorado. On the United States Department of Agriculture’s website, you can find a list of every organic operation in the state, but only two breweries are listed as organically certified.
“It kind of surprises me,” said Chris Asher of the lack of organic breweries in the area.
Asher is the founder, owner, brewer and jack of all trades at the Asher Brewing Company, the only organically certified brewery producing organic brews in Colorado. New Belgium Brewing, located in Fort Collins, also has an organic certification but is not currently producing any organic products.
Organic agriculture popped into the spotlight in the 1990s, even though its presence can be traced back to the 1800s. Organic food can be found in numerous grocery stores and restaurants. Recent data from the United States Department of Agriculture showed that since 2002 organic agriculture has increased almost 300%. The total market for organics in the U.S. is valued at $39 billion, and $75 billion worldwide.
As for beer, in 2002 there were 1,513 breweries in the U.S., and according to the Brewer’s Association, since then that number has risen by about 5,000. With organics and the beer industry on the rise simultaneously, it only makes sense that the two would eventually be intertwined.
But what does it mean to be organically certified?
Organic certifications have existed since the 1970s. But it wasn’t until 1990, under the Organic Foods Production Act, that a federal certification was created. The OFPA enacted a National Organic Program, regulated by the USDA. This program set forth regulations for what can and cannot be considered organic, and whether or not the product or company would be able to use the USDA organic seal.
As per the USDA, organic production is defined as “a production system that is managed… to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.”
Organic production must not disturb the variety of life in an ecosystem, not just with plants but also with animals.
According to Janis Kieft, the organic program manager at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, regulations in the NOP include proper labeling certifications, enforcement and testing requirements and a list of prohibited substances for organic agricultural use, such as arsenic and calcium carbonate.
“There are no special requirements for someone brewing beer – they would have to meet the same standards for any crop producer or processor who wants to be certified organic,” Kieft said.
The standards set for crop producers are complex, and it can take a long time to get certified. First, potential organic farmland must go three years without any application of prohibited materials, which include genetically modified organisms or any synthetic pesticides and herbicides. Farmers must also ensure that there is no contamination from adjacent lands. The use of industrial sludge is prohibited. Sludge is a semi-solid leftover after waste materials are treated and processed. The use of genetically modified seeds is also prohibited. One of the most important pieces is maintaining the health of the soil.
After the three-year period, and extensive testing, the farm can receive organic certification. The testing can include analyses of soil fertility, carbon content, and evidence of herbicides or pesticides; water quality tests, and more.
Back to beer, the organic certification at Asher is based on the difference in the quality of the ingredients used in the brewing process.
“Our yeast is organic, it’s not treated with any growth regulators or pesticides. All of our grain, the barley that we bring in, is all organic and our hops are organic as well,” said Kate Dortenzo, operations manager at Asher Brewing Company. “It’s like any recipe, if you use higher quality ingredients, you’re going to get a different product.”
Asher has been certified organic since 2010, a year after opening. For Asher, he saw a weak spot in the Boulder market that no one had really touched, and used his background in brewing to start Asher Brewing Company.
His passion began back in Boston, where he home-brewed throughout college. After moving to Colorado, Asher worked at several breweries while studying for his MBA in business at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. When Redfish New Orleans Brewhouse, where he worked, closed, Asher wrote up a business plan for his all-organic brewery, and Asher Brewing Company was born.
At Asher, the biggest reason for their all organic production is simple: the environmental effects of brewing beer are greatly reduced when going organic.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has said that about 70% of pollution in water comes from traditional farming tactics, mainly pesticides,” Asher said.
What Asher is referencing is called nutrient pollution. When too many nutrients are added to water, they act as fertilizer for algae growth. Nitrogen and phosphorus are two main nutrients that leach into the ground and pollute water. These two nutrients are found in many pesticides and herbicides. The Pesticide Safety Education Program at Cornell University found that some synthetic fertilizers can lead to groundwater contamination.
Fertilized soils “can be significant sources of gaseous, nitrogen-based compounds like ammonia and nitrogen oxide,” according to the EPA. These elements in the soil could lead to excessive algae growth, which can harm water quality, food resources, and can lead to illness and death in many aquatic species.
Harmful algae growth cannot only kill local aquatic species but can create toxins that are eaten by small fish, which can then move up the food chain as the smaller animal is eaten by larger animals.
Nutrient pollution can also create dead zones in water, where species cannot survive due to lack of oxygen. The EPA states that there are more than 166 documented dead zones nationwide, including areas such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Mississippi River.
Organic agriculture strictly bans the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in an effort to curb the many detrimental effects on the environment from conventional agriculture.
“It’s a cleaner process when you’re not treating your crops with any pesticides. That loops back into the health of the soil, so you’re going to have healthier soil which impacts your future crop yields,” Dortenzo said. “You’re supporting an agricultural system that’s more sustainable, and healthier for the planet, the ground, the soil, the crops. We believe that organic ingredients makes better, as in healthier and cleaner, more sustainable beer.”
According to Asher, organic ingredients also improve the product he’s making, and the efficiency of his business.
“Without fungicides and pesticides, you have quicker fermentation, better attenuation, better color and clarity in the beer,” Asher said.
The Coors Brewing Company studied the effects of pesticides on beer. The study showed that there are naturally occurring antioxidants in beer. Pesticides in beer can lead to a detriment to the flavor and shelf life of the beer.
“The antioxidants scavenge oxygen, which is the enemy of the shelf life of the beer. When there are pesticides present, the antioxidants cling to the pesticides and don’t do their job of scavenging for oxygen,” Asher said.
There are challenges when it comes to organic brewing. Two main challenges, according to John Addison, who works at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, are supply and demand. Ingredients are difficult to find, and the demand for these beers is fickle.
While organic farms are commonly found in the United States, finding certain farms that grow ingredients needed for organic beer can be a little tricky.
“Organic hops are more difficult to find. We have probably over a dozen different hop suppliers, whereas most people go through one,” Asher said.
While hop farms can be found in Colorado, the majority of organically grown hops can be found in the Pacific Northwest. Niwot Hops, near Boulder, Colorado, grew hops organically for eight years and sold some of them to Asher, but it is not currently growing hops.
According to Will Witman, part-owner of the business, their hop production was one acre of their farm, while most commercial hop farms are 10 or more acres. The farm did not expand enough to become full-time hop producers.
The price to grow organically is higher than conventional farming, and so is the price of the products of the farms. According to Dortenzo, this may be one of the reasons that there are not more organic breweries out there.
“I think it’s harder for larger breweries to do that because the cost exponentially increases when you’re buying organic ingredients,” Dortenzo said.
For a larger brewery, such as New Belgium Brewing Company, the price may have played a part in stopping their organic beer production.
“Organic pricing for raw materials can be much more expensive than conventional raw materials,” said Brewing Materials Buyer & Planner for New Belgium Brewing, Zach Baltinger.
Baltinger said that the brewery stopped production of their organic beer, Mothership Wit, years ago, not because of price, but because “consumer demand fell off dramatically.”
Baltinger also said that the brewery has no future plans of reincarnating their organic production, because of limited demand for the product.
In Boulder, organic seems to be a way of life for some people, and Asher has grown little by little since opening, with no decrease in demand for their products. In its first year, the brewery produced 400 barrels of beer. The past few years have had production at around 900 barrels.
“We definitely get a lot of people in here who are excited about the fact that we’re organic; we fit in great here in Boulder,” Dortenzo said. “It’s still mind-blowing to me every day that people are so concerned with organic food, but that thought hasn’t moved in the beer industry.”
As for the future of the organic beer industry, consumer demand will determine whether it will flourish. As organic farms and organic foods are on the rise, there seems to be hope in the future that this trend will spread into the beer industry.
