Conscious Choice: Salud!

July 2008 | On Our Radar

Salud!

Raise your glass to a summer of sustainable sipping

By Alastair Bland

Along with warmer, longer, lazier days, the sweet months of summer bring earlier and earlier happy hours. Just in case you needed a final excuse to crack a cold one, consider some of the happy changes afoot in the spirits industry. Fine craft breweries — from Oregon’s Caldera Brewing, to Oskar Blues in Colorado, to Maui Brewing in Hawaii — are shifting from bottles to aluminum cans, an extremely lightweight alternative to truck-heavy, carbon-costly glass. Anderson Valley Brewing Company and EOS Winery are some of the many plugging into renewables like solar power. Trustworthy programs like Salmon Safe and Fish Friendly Farming are patrolling farms and vineyards to ensure minimized streamside erosion and chemical pollution, while the boom in biodynamics is helping restore ecosystem diversity, soil health and heightened grape quality at wineries like Benziger Family in Sonoma County. In Milwaukee, Lakefront Brewery has partnered with several Wisconsin farmers to spark a much-needed local production of organic hops, essentially unavailable today outside of Europe and New Zealand. Several distilled spirits, too, have joined the game, with organic producers like citrus vodka-maker Orange V and Rain Vodka employing low-impact production methods from field to bottle.

After hours of vigorous taste tests (purely for research purposes of course!), we’ve narrowed down the best new flavors from brands that are as committed to the planet as they are to their product. Cheers!

Tiny Medlock Ames in Sonoma utilizes 100 percent solar powered machinery and sheep as weed-trimmers. Certified organic grapes produce four wines, including Bell Mountain Ranch Red, a bright, fruity blend that tastes like blackberries and licorice.

On 1,000 acres of organic vineyards grazed by livestock and pest-controlled by native insects, Bonterra, near Ukiah, CA, goes beyond organic, adhering to biodynamic and Fish Friendly Farming practices. Don’t miss the Syrah, a successful blend of cherry, bacon and mint flavors, and the round, woody Chardonnay, with scents of stone fruits and mushroom.

Cooper Mountain’s 123-acre estate is certified organic, biodynamic and Salmon Safe. It’s also one of 25 Oregon wineries to voluntarily join a recent carbon emissions elimination program. Several grapes grow here, but the signature is the buttery Pinot Noir, an Oregon classic.

While other West Coast breweries are known for pale ales and IPAs, Berkeley-based Bison Brewing Company features a best-selling year-round barley wine and a highly regarded chocolate stout — the company’s number-one seller — which stands up beautifully to a strong, soft cheese.

USDA law mandates an organic beer must contain 95 percent organic ingredients — but this Central Valley brewery goes all the way, sourcing organic grains and hops locally when available. Butte Creek Brewing’s Mateveza, a light, herbal beer, is brewed with organic yerba mate from Argentina, giving it that extra jolt.

LA-based Veev Açaí Spirit features a single product — a 60-proof liquor infused with Açaí (pronounced ah-sigh-yee) berries harvested from virgin Amazon rainforest, providing a high dose of antioxidants along with a licorice and cherry flavor. The alcohol comes from organic winter wheat, fermented and distilled in Idaho on a wind-powered facility. For every bottle sold, a dollar goes to rainforest preservation.

The world’s only USDA-certified organic tequila, 4 Copas products are derived from 1,000 acres of organic agave in the Jalisco desert. Pest deterrents made onsite from mulched agave compost replace petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers. Their Tequila Anejo makes a strong argument for soil care and land stewardship.

New Hampshire’s Maison Jomere/The Organic Spirits Company favors an earthy commitment to nature over glitz, glamour or fluff. Labels are soy, the glue is corn, the glass is thin and the liquor is bottled poetry. Maison Jomere’s unfiltered vodka goes down as smooth as air, with nuances of soft vanilla and a bite of pine. Just as divine are the spiced rum and London dry gin — all USDA certified organic.

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