…because they’re not cars. They’re hybrids between wine and beer.

Yeah, pretty much the only thing “green” about these beverages is that, uh, the word hybrid means something else in a different context. Still, pretty interesting.

“Chardonnay Blonde is not a malternative, but rather a true wine/beer hybrid,” says Keith Villa, Blue Moon’s brew master. He starts with a wheat beer base, then adds juices from chardonnay and sauvignon blanc grapes; it’s then given time to ferment. “At the end of the process the product looks kind of like beer, but smells and tastes like a white wine spritzer.

Anyway, Blue Moon (a Coors subsidiary — er, MillerCoors, I guess) has its environmental priorities, so I guess that’s how I’ll justify making this post. But I have no excuse for the delightfully misleading headline. Um. Especially since making those brews takes lots of gas. So. Yeah.

When I first met Kevin Hooshangi, beer sommelier and owner of Village Pourhouse, he asked me if I knew how to drink a beer.

Now, I’ve drunk plenty of beers, but no one has ever asked if I knew how to drink a beer. So I said, “no.”

And it turned out, I really had no idea what drinking a beer actually involved.

So, here’s a video of Hooshangi setting the beer-swilling peasants of the world straight on the path to proper beer drinking.

Tell your friends.

Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, kindly informed us that there were actually at least four organic beers that were recognized at the Great American Beer Festival. I haven’t checked these out yet to see if they are USDA certified organic. (By the way, we have a video coming up featuring a few farmers’ comments on USDA certified organic.)

Redrock Brewing Co., Organic Zwickelbier, first place in cellar or unfiltered beer.

Laurelwood Brewing Co., Organic Deranger, first place in imperial or double red ale.

Utah Brewers Cooperative, Squatters Organic Amber Ale, second place in bitter or pale mild ale.

New Belgium Brewing Co., Mothership Wit Organic Wheat Beer, third place in Belgian-style white.

New Belgium Brewing’s Mothership Wit, their only organic brew, took a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Fest (blogged about all over the place as the silly acronym GABF) in the Belgian-style wheat beer category.

New Belgium, located in Fort Collins, Colo., is one of the most thoroughly environmentally-conscious companies I’ve encountered. We hope to have a chat with them in the near future. 

If you know of any other organic brews that made a splash at the GABF, let us know!

Dear everybody who will be in love with our site soon:

Please send us video of you and yours brewing at home if you do it in an organic or sustainable way. Or send us your favorite recipes. Or both!

Post your videos on YouTube and send us the link or just send the video directly to us or tell us where to grab it on the Web.

Best,
GreenGrog