Comments on: A-B to Brew with Organic Hops http://beeractivist.com/2007/06/15/a-b-to-brew-with-organic-hops/ Drink Beer. Save the World. Thu, 31 May 2012 12:11:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: beeractivist http://beeractivist.com/2007/06/15/a-b-to-brew-with-organic-hops/#comment-1788 Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:32:05 +0000 http://beeractivist.wordpress.com/2007/06/15/a-b-to-brew-with-organic-hops/#comment-1788 Jess – thanks for the comments. I agree that A-B surely had business needs first and foremost in their minds. Then again, I doubt the release of the list would have been delayed if all those comments had not been filed. So, in effect, it was a consumer-driven change. Fyi, my column in the next issue of American Brewer magazine will be on this topic. By the way, I just visited your blog – nice!

]]> By: Jess Sand http://beeractivist.com/2007/06/15/a-b-to-brew-with-organic-hops/#comment-1760 Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:22:23 +0000 http://beeractivist.wordpress.com/2007/06/15/a-b-to-brew-with-organic-hops/#comment-1760 The main reason A-B switched to all-organic hops is that the deadline to do so came and went. Because the USDA hasn’t voted on the list you’ve been so good about publicizing (they received over 1,000 disgruntled comments during the public comment week!), and because they refused to extend the grace period until they do so, producers must still conform to the NOP list (for now).

I think it was more a matter of A-B not wanting to risk getting their USDA abel yanked than them listening to consumer demand.

I do agree, though, that “A-B’s decision should significantly increase the demand for organic hops, which should in turn help other, smaller organic brewers in the long term by creating a domestic supply of more competitively priced organic hops.”

That, to me, is the key—and the only reason I am relieved that A-B is elbowing their way into the organic game. Like almost everything in life, it can have both positive and negative consequences! Thanks for your coverage on this—you’re one of the few.

—J.

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