Cheers to Organic Buzz: Pesticide Free Hops

Amidst the weekend transition from September to October, ringing in cooler temperatures in many places as a pleasant break from record heat waves, another welcome announcement appeared on Huffington Post Green: Organic hops. That’s right, some clever farmers-turned-innovators are seeking a pesticide-free method of brewing up a cold one.

There have been some busy bees in the Northwestern part of the U.S., where farmers worked alongside researchers in the great hops adventure. In a rare call for transparency in labels, though possibly meant as a slight to local breweries, “brewers who label their beer as organic” are now required “to use organic hops beginning in 2013.” So the search is on for the best method. This could either be a time for breaking down in the face of changing ye ole’ family recipe, or, a chance to progress the beer industry to a higher standard. The best outcome would be for organic beers to become much more prevalent among the homogeneous rows of monopolizing top retailers.

As with many sustainable and organic goods, the demand is increasing, even if slowly.

“The organic beer market is still relatively small, but it’s definitely catching on,” said Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association, to Huffington Post. “Just like a few years ago, organic cosmetics and body products were a niche. Across the board, whether it’s pet food or whatever kind of consumer product, there’s increasing demand.”

Additionally, the U.S. is strategically in a good place to be a leader in the organic hops business, if they so choose, as the second largest producer of hops next only to Germany. Prost! The Northwest region of the country is especially primed to spearhead this mission as the originator of the craft beer movement, bringing focus to local beverages over commercial alternatives. Craft beer festivals all over the country would also be prime places to introduce new brands to the consumers most likely to be first adopters in the movement.

Don’t think craft, organic beers are completely absent today, however. Peak Organic Brewing Company boasts of offerings ranging from the Fall Summit Ale, to Hop Noir or to Nut Brown Ale, as well as standard IPAs. There are definitely several other organic breweries out there as well, and many craft breweries have a sampling of organic beers, like New Belgium and Dogfish Head Brewing Co.

Green America says the reason to go for organic beers is to eliminate the chemicals leading to “at least 67 million birds [that] die each year from pesticides sprayed on US fields. The number of fish killed is conservatively estimated at six to 14 million.” Humans should beware of toxic chemicals as well, says the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But an even more personal, economic reason for going organic is that the family farm is affected by devastated ecosystems. “The US lost an estimated 650,000 family farms in the last decade. Organic farming, on the other hand, is proving to be small-farmer friendly-most organic farms are less than 100 acres,” reported the blog.

The highest level of organic certification to aspire to would be 100%, meaning “ only organically produced ingredients and processing aids are used,” says CraftBeer.com. The lower levels are the ones affected by the new regulations. Huffington Post says, “for many years, brewers could market their beer as organic even if they used conventional hops, arguing that organic hops simply weren’t available,” but cost may be one deterrent. “Organic hops can be anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent more expensive to brewers, so even if they could buy organic hops, many brewers opted for conventional varieties.” But the sales numbers are always steadily growing.

That’s what’s on tap.

8 Clever Green Uses For Beer

You didn’t just think that beers were good for drinking and beer pong did you? Well if you did, you are in for a treat, and also to be proven wrong! Beer can be used for a lot of things, many, however, are unusual. Check it out!

Enrich Soil
Pour a few tablespoons of flat beer into your garden to cultivate the soil. The yeasty soil will help plants grow stronger and help things flourish.

Lighten Hair
Soak you hair in beer and then lay in the sun. It will pull out terrific highlights and let your hair get a buzz as well as yourself.

Polish Wood Furniture
Get a damp microfiber cloth and wet it with your flat beer, then rub gently into your furniture. It will give it a polish and bring back some color.

Stain Removal
Much like club soda, beer will take out the stains in cloth and carpet. Just make sure to rinse with water after will take out the smell.

Soothe Tired Feet
Want to give your feet a nice treatment? Give yourself a beer pedicure. The bubbles actually will make your feet feel soothed and calm.

Polish Gold Jewelry
Drop your rings and other trinkets into a dish of beer, and then remove to polish. It will give a beautiful gloss and shine to your things.

Batter Up
We’ve got a recipe for making beer batter fried zucchini spears that’s just waiting for some leftover beer.

Bath In Beer
Bathing in beer can help soften and soothe skin. Make sure to rinse or you may smell like a human ale

2,000 Re-Uses for Beer Boxes!

This morning, a friend sent me a link to what might be the cleverest uses of beer boxes I have ever seen.

Earlier this summer, German architecture students at the University of Applied Science in Detmold designed (website in German), realized, and constructed BOXEL.  The pavilion is constructed in one week by students out of over 2,000 beer boxes that have each been in use for over 10 years donated from a local brewery; the boxes will be recycled when the pavilion is disassembled.

Boxel was conceptualized by Henri Schweynoch in his response to an impromptu competition from Prof. Marco Hemmerling.  The building shape is based on a minimal surface and is organized along free form geometry.  The structure is held together by a series of slats and screws with the additional support of bracings in some of the upper areas.  The three base points of the structure also are concrete lined boxes as load-bearing points.

These students have demonstrated (even unintentionally) great ways to reuse common items.  Organic Bug supports reusing and recycling objects in useful ways.  After 10 years of use, these beer boxes were given one last task before they find themselves recycled – what a great example of being green.