2012 Organic Beverages in the U.S.

Additional Information

• In the Northeast, outfits such as Peak Organic Brewing built businesses based on compliance with organic standards.



• West Coast trailblazers include Butte Creek Brewing.



• Bison Brewing, Eel River, Fish Brewing Company and Hawk’s Brewing, among others, also brew organic beer in the region.



• Despite the coastal concentrations, Kraftbrau Brewery of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Goose Island Beer Company of Chicago, Illinois – which developed an organic beer specifically for the Whole Foods chain – prove that craft brewers in the Midwest did not leave it to the brewing industry giants to take the organic route.

• In spring 2006, A-B, using other corporate identities, began test marketing two organic beer brands.



• The Green Valley Brewing Company’s Wild Hop lager was born at A-B’s Fairfield, California, facility.



• Stone Mill pale ale, identified as a Crooked Creek Brewing Company beer, originated at the Redhook plant in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.



• While the extent of consumer interest in organic beer remains uncertain, Cathy Strange of retailer Whole Foods Market believes A-B’s involvement in the category “sends a clear message that there’s marketability,” according to a report in Modern Brewery Age. “They’re a smart company and if they didn’t feel that there was a backbone to it, they wouldn’t market it.”



• In December 2006, A-B presented Redbridge, a gluten-free sorghum beer, brewed in New Hampshire and intended for sale in restaurants and food stores featuring organic goods.



• Early in 2011, A-B InBev acquired Goose Island in a $38.8 million dollar deal that saw the bigger company purchase 58% of the Chicago brewer for $22.5 million and buy the remain 42% from former stakeholder Craft Brewers Alliance (CBA). For several years before the acquisition, A-B distributed Goose Island beer via a partnership with CBA.