A Look at Organic Beer

No, I'm not referring to the food coloring-infused remnants of St. Patty's Day celebrations past. Rather, I am referring to a segment of the beer industry that is enjoying a great deal of attention as of late - organic beer. And why not? After all, organic products are a big industry these days and health-conscious consumers are buying organic food items like never before.

Beer is food. So, the emergence of organic beer really shouldn't surprise anyone, right?

Not so much. First of all, beer is often cursed with the unfortunate misconception that it is somehow inherently unhealthy. Numerous scientific studies have proven this notion to be incorrect, but the notion persists nonetheless. Because of this misconception, the terms "beer" and "organic" seem to be somehow antithetical. The wine industry has been largely successful in dispelling this myth about it's own libation of choice, due in large part to the numerous high-profile reports concerning the health benefits of wine. For instance, a glass of wine per day has been shown to reduce heart disease risk. This benefit, however, was found to be true of any alcoholic beverage and wine doesn't have any particular quality over another form of alcohol in this regard.

Sadly, beer possesses many qualities - some in a greater measure than wine - that are beneficial to one's health. Antioxidants are abundant in beer, for example, and beneficial flavonoids are found in hops. As much as I tout the relative quality of beer over against wine, however, the simple fact is that beer just simply doesn't have the positive "PR" that wine enjoys. Not yet, anyway.