Today’s San Francisco Chronicle, in the Thursday Wine Section, features an article entitled Brewing Behemoth Sneaks into Organics by staff writer Carol Ness. She begins by musing. “Organic Budweiser. What’s next, the hybrid Hummer?” Overall the article is pretty fair, although is does lean slightly on the side of the organic community. There’s a great quote in it by Ted Vivatson, co-owner of Eel River Brewing in Fortuna, where Ted doesn’t mince words.
In addition to the article, the Chronicle convened a tasting panel which tasted Wild Hop Lager blind against five other beers, three of which were also organic. Wild Hop Lager came in last. I had previously reported hearing rumors of authorization of Wild Hop Lager in Whole Foods, among others, but one of the people on the Chronicle’s tasting panel was Cyrus Kayvan, beer buyer for Whole Foods. After the tasting, Kayvan commented about Wild Hop’s future by saying. “Not in my store.“