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The head brewer of a famous regional brewery in the Midlands raised his eyes to the heavens when I mentioned organic beer. `You should see the rubbish I get sent,' he said, and moved swiftly on to another issue.
By `rubbish' he meant organic barley malt and hops. His response underscored the deep-seated conservatism of an industry that faces sliding beer consumption and brewery closures. You would expect brewers to be seeking out new niches in the market. Yet there are only two regularly produced organic beers in Britain: Golden Promise, from Edinburgh's Caledonian Brewery, and Organic Best Ale, from Samuel Smith of Tadcaster in Yorkshire. Golden Promise is named after a variety of malting barley, but the brewery can no longer get sufficient supplies and uses a rare variety called Atem instead. It buys the entire crop of Progress hops grown by Peter Hall in Marden in Kent, the only commercial British grower of organic hops.
Sam Smith uses English Chariot organic malt, but has to import organic Hallertauer hops from New Zealand, which is expensive. The tiny Pitfield Brewery in Hoxton, north London, also uses New Zealand Hallertauer hops but finds getting supplies difficult. Owner Martin Kemp can't keep up with demand for Pitfield's Eco Warrior organic ale, and can only brew the beer when supplies of malt and hops are available. He is attempting to source organic malt from France and Germany. The owners of the Northumberland Brewery in Bedlington face a similar problem. This...