TUCSON, Ariz. — Standing in the beer aisle of your favorite store, you notice that even with the booming organic trend, finding an organic beer is not an easy task.

Organic beer is yet another extension of the growing organic food craze, but whether the benefits are great enough to break it into the mainstream is yet to be seen.

What is organic beer is a question that a lot of people, even in the beer industry, don't know. There are beers that claim to be all-natural, but is that the same as organic?

"Basically, to be organic, the grains, hops, barley, rye have to be organic," said Laura Burkhart, an organic specialist at Whole Foods. "If any one ingredient is not organic, the whole beer can't claim to be organic."

People who frequent breweries and liquor stores often laugh and say that all beer is organic because all of the ingredients are natural. According to Burkhart, if a beer is not 100 percent organic, then it is usually called all-natural, which means that some ingredients can be organic or not.

"Organic products would be coming from somewhere where it isn't being sprayed with pesticides," said Jacqueline Davis, bulk foods manager at Aqua Vita.

"To be organic you must grow your product on organic soil for three years," Davis said.

The requirements have been changing a lot recently about the specific amount of time that something has to be pesticide-free to be able to claim organic status. It used to be five years, Davis said, but it has changed now to just three.

Just using natural products isn't enough to be able to make something organic. A brewmaster must make a conscious effort to be organic. According to Jeremiah Johnson, manager of Brew your own brew, everything that comes through his store has gone through pesticides, nothing is completely organic here..."

According to Devlin Houser, a crew member at Trader Joe's, organic beer is better not only for the environment, but farm workers as well because they are not exposed to pesticides.

"When you drink organic beer, you're helping to ensure there is biodiversity in the environment," said Brandy Ciaccio, Beverage Specialist at the Plaza Liquors. "Instead of using nasty chemicals to raise the hops needed for these beverages, you are sustaining life through organics."

"Bottom line is it must use all organics to be organic, no fake colors or anything," Burkhart said.

What is the demand like for organic beer?

The idea of whether organic beer is catching on is one that is up in the air. People who deal with organics have all sorts of varying ideas that conflict with each other.

Trader Joe's which is known for carrying organic food has just recently gotten organic beer, Houser said.

"Honestly, not a lot of organic beer requests," Houser said.

"I'm not an organic beer drinker because I don't know of the selection, I'm not aware that they are out there," said Kyle Lininger, a Trader Joe Crew member.

According to Lininger, organic wines have really gotten a lot more popular then beers have. Some liquor store managers, such as Joe Singh, manager at Wildcat Market, doesn't really want to buy it because he says it doesn't sell very well.

Beverages and More (BevMo) has a large selection of beers, but only had one organic beer.

According to azcentral.com, organic beer represents less than 1 percent of the US beer sales, but those sales doubled to 19 million between 2003 and 2005.

Not everyone in the industry shares the view that organic beer is not in demand; many people actually believe the exact opposite is true.

"We have quite a few people looking for organic beer," says Robert Stout, director of beer sales for Plaza Liquors. "Organic demands have gone up, and it’s probably going to continue to rise, so you’re seeing more breweries starting to produce them."

In the state of Arizona, there is not a single brewery that brews organic beer and Ciaccio believes that this is because breweries aren't aware that the demand exists.

"I think there are a lot of people that are interested in it," Davis said.

"There are a certain type of people that look for it," Singh added.

Even though he said organic beers didn't work before, Singh wants to try to make a section for just organic beers for around six months to see how it sells.

When it comes to brewing your own organic beer, Johnson says its basically going to cost you around $70-200 to start depending on what you have, and you will have to go out on your own to find.

To be labeled organic, a product must go through a certification.

"All of our organic products are certified by USDA or QAI," said Lininger about Trader Joe's organic products.

According to most in the field, they all agree that the certification process is one that could be hard and a bit pricey to obtain.

"I'd think certification would probably be really hard to get for organic beer," Davis said.

"The certification process can be quite pricey," Stout said. "A lot of the breweries in Arizona are pretty small, so if you're getting by are you really going to throw that extra money to get a certification that doesn't really do anything for you?"

According to Stout, "lots of the microbreweries don't go through the process of getting certified organic, but a lot of them use organic products, such as Anderson Valley. To them their concern isn't getting the organic certification."

This raises the question concerning if getting certified is really that important.

"I think it's just a marketing ploy," Lininger said. "I think all these certification boards only exist because there is a demand for it and they make money off it."

"Whether or not you have the certification, I don't really think it makes a difference," Lininger added.

Is the organic certification process the same for beer as it is for produce and milk? According to Burkhart, organic beer has all the same standards as organic milk and produce does.

"Maybe more standards because brewmasters are notorious for being perfectionists," Burkhart said.

Organics have the myth of being more expensive then their counterpart, and organic beer for the most part lives up to this.

"It is more expensive, most organic stuff is," Houser said.

According to beer brewers, the beer-making process is the same. It involves replacing regular ingredients with organic ingredients, which is what makes that beer more expensive.

"It’s probably because the demand is high and the supply is low, so they can charge more for the organic ingredients because they are harder to come by," Burkhart said. "Therefore you have to charge more for the beer to make up cost."

Added Lininger, "There is usually a price associated with producing a good product."

Apparently at Trader Joe's it is not price-effective, as Lininger said, "I go for the cheap beer because I don't make enough money."

Singh feels that people probably don't buy organic beer from his liquor store because of the price.

The Plaza claims that its organic beer prices are on par with the other beers. Even Burkhart said that sometimes some organic beers go on sale and it makes them pretty cheap, but they usually end up being a little more than the regulars, but pretty close.

There’s also the question of how well organic beer sells.

Depending on the location, you get different answers to the marketability of organic beers. Burkhart and Uncle David at Whole Foods said that organic beer sells really well.

"I think they sell well, just because they are organic, and we are in an organic market," Burkhart said.

Singh said he tried organic beer and that it did not sell very well.

"Right now we have one organic beer, and we also have the exact same version of it but not as organic," Singh said, "and the non-organic beer sells better, even though they are the same price."

Does making something organic make it taste better? Does it really matter much if there are pesticides that are on our food and beer? Everyone asked agreed that the taste for the most part is better.

*Burkhart said they taste great
*Uncle David said they taste the same, definitely no worse.
*Lininger thinks there is some benefit to drinking organic beer, maybe it’s getting rid of that chemical taste.
*According to Singh it’s a little better tasting
*Singh has heard people say that it tastes better
*Davis proclaims there is a lot more richer flavor

"Organics taste better because you’re allowing the item to really express its true nature," Ciaccio said. "Chemicals alter the plant on some level, and it shows in the flavor."

Stout thinks that the flavor really depends on the brewer. He says that the quality put into a beer is what is important.

"There are a lot more organic brands, and you see a lot more respect for the organics, but when it comes down to it people just want quality, and if that happens to be organic then they'll go for it," Ciaccio said.

A big problem facing brewers all over is the hops shortage that is happening right now. "Because of the hops shortage, the price on hops is really high and brewers can't pay the premium for the organic products," saidSteve Tracy brew master of Thunder Canyon Brewery.

According to Ciaccio, the lack of the hops is probably going to make organic beer even more expensive because it's going to be hard to find and there won't be much to go around.

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