Kevin Hooshangi, beer sommelier and owner of the Village Pourhouse, recently spoke with us about organic beer.
We knew the Village Pourhouse served Peak Organic, but we didn’t know they had the two Anheuser-Busch organic beers: Stone Mill Ale and Wild Hop Lager. We asked Hooshangi how he thought they fared against other organic beers.
“Well, Anheuser-Busch are like the New York Yankees. They have scouts that can go out and buy up any player,” he said. “Before, these were just craft brews. But now that association can give them a bad reputation.”
On the topic of the health merits of organic beer versus non-organic beer, he said it really comes down to the quality of the ingredients in the beer. And, with organic beer, you know you’re getting natural ingredients.
Whereas something like Bud Light, he likened to Diet Coke or any diet soft drink. Diet Coke has NutraSweet. NutraSweet=not a natural product=not good for you.
But a beer like Sierra Nevada. It may not be organic, but it is made with quality ingredients (not to mention sustainable brewing). So here’s the question he posed to us in this comparison: “Is an organic chicken any better than a regular chicken?”
Answer: Depends on how you cook it.
