The call of nature - time for brewers to go organic?
With growing consumer concern over food safety, is now the right time for brewers and pubs to be going organic?
Ten years ago, consumption of organic food and drink was considered the domain of tree-hugging eco-warriors and middle-class allotment owners.
Today, genuine concern over the potential hazards of GM foods, the BSE scare, concern over failing antibiotics and even the emergence of life-threatening peanut allergies has catalysed demand for organic produce in the UK.
However, The Publican Newspaper Market Report 2000, a survey of almost 1,000 publicans, recently revealed that despite this furore, just 14 per cent of licensees said they had encountered customers who enquired about GM ingredients, a figure that has remained static since the previous year.
Nevertheless, food and drink companies have taken it upon themselves to persuade the consumer that organic foods are not only better for you, but taste superior too.
The Waitrose supermarket chain recently estimated that within a few years 10 per cent of all beer on its shelf would be organic. The range of organic drinks currently available is bound to expand in order to meet the demand from a niche, but burgeoning category of health-conscious drinkers.
However, brewers and drinks companies should think seriously before clambering aboard the organic bandwagon.
Making the switch to organic is a rigorous and obstacle-ridden process heaped in red tape, rules and regulations. Unless a recognised body has certified a product, it is illegal for it to claim organic status. In order to gain approval, producers must prove that all ingredients and raw materials are accredited and meet strict specifications.
Keith Ball, certification manager for Soil Association Certification Ltd, the UK's biggest accreditation organisation, said: "There cannot be any genetically modified organisms involved whatsoever. We must be able to trace all the ingredients right back to the farmer and in order to be accredited, at least 95 per cent of the product must be made up of organic ingredients, while the remaining five per cent must come from a specific restricted list of non-organic produce.
"The only instance where we allow non-organic input is when the ingredient is unavailable organically."
The Soil Association also operates spot checks to ensure that organic materials are stored and locked away and the production line is thoroughly cleaned to prevent any non-organic infiltration. The Soil Association also takes 0.3 per cent of the total organic sales business for providing this service.
Having established organic status, producers are then faced with an added problem of ensuring the product looks, feels and tastes good enough to rival non-organic brands.
Chris Parker, managing director at the Organic-spirits company - makers of the world's first 100 per cent organic London gin - encountered several teething problems during the development process.
After removing all additives, preservatives and artificial flavourings used in ordinary gin, Parker was left with a great tasting, but murky and cloudy looking gin.
"It was a real technical barrier," he said. "The natural organic botanicals were releasing oils that you don't get with ordinary non-organic herbs. Although it tasted brilliant, we had to get rid of the haze in the gin," added Parker. "It took an extra three months of experimenting with temperature, mixing speeds and length of the distilling process."
Sourcing a high quality and officially accredited organic supplier in the UK and bureaucratic export complications has also proved to be a major stumbling block for the Clapham-based distiller.
"People were very confident that they could produce organic alcohol of a high enough quality, but in practice things weren't so straight-forward. It took us the best part of a year to find a suitable supplier," admitted Parker.
"Exporting is logistically very complicated. In France, we have to change the packaging so it says 'Biologique,' while the US refuses to recognise the term organic and instead insists on the phrase 'organically produced ingredients'. It's all extra cost and extra time," he added. John Keeling, director of brewing at Fuller's, had similar problems when developing the new Organic Honey Dew Ale, recently commended by the Soil Association at its annual awards.
"We had real problems sourcing the raw materials in the quantity that we required," he said. "We had to import organic honey from Argentina."
Due to the dearth of good quality organic ingredients produced in England, the vast majority of brewers are forced to import malt from the continent and hops from New Zealand. This increased cost has been cited a principal reason the bigger brewers have so far abstained from going organic.
"One of the main problems facing brewers in this country is the limited variety of hops available to them. With the ale sector in a state of decline, investment hasn't been forthcoming and they are forced to import hops from elsewhere," said Ball.
From an ecological point of view, when you consider that most organic beer in this country has been made with organic hops transported half way across the world in fuel-guzzling cargo planes and fume-omitting articulated lorries, you'd be forgiven for thinking brewers are missing the point.
"People shouldn't get confused about the actual goal of organic products," said Martin Hartridge, managing director of Hartridge's, producers of an organic soft drink range set for launch in January.
"The aim is for the consumer to be drinking a product that hasn't got any pesticides or additives or damaged the environment where it was made," he commented.
Henley-based brewer Brakspear insisted on using English hops for its seasonal Ted and Ben's Organic Beer and sources European hops for its more widely distributed Naturale variant. "We try and ensure we are as environmentally friendly as possible when making our organic beer," said Joe Laventure, director of sales and marketing.
"Both our Ted and Ben's and Naturale beers are 100 per cent organic and are also vegetarian and vegan friendly, containing no finings. We also recycle all our bottles and use non-animal glue for all our labels," added Laventure. A new Brakspear organic beer, earmarked for imminent release, recently achieved listings in Safeway's after it won first prize at the UK's first Organic Beer Awards.
The awards were hosted by Singhboulton, a pioneering female partnership responsible for spearheading a number of organic initiatives through their ownership of two wholly organic pubs in London - the Duke of Cambridge and the Crown Organic pub. Although both pubs have received fantastic reviews and numerous awards, Esther Boulton warned of the dangers a move into the organic on-trade can bring. "It was extraordinarily hard work to become certified and involved huge commitment, time and resource," she said.
"At first there were hardly any beers available and we were struggling to fill our bar, but then we persuaded Pitfield's brewery in Shoreditch and Freedom Brewery to produce some organic beers. It's good business for them as well as they've become increasingly popular," she said.
On the dry side of the business, Boulton has to change the food menu twice a day, as it's impossible to predict what organic food will be available at any one time. Furthermore, while most pubs deal with about 10 suppliers, SinghBoulton communicates with around 60.
"You must be prepared to work very hard and closely with your staff, and you must have belief and passion for the environment. I would say don't do it unless you believe it. We're not allowed microwave ovens, only use environmentally friendly cleaning products and have a policy of never buying fish from depleted stocks."
If you think the bureaucratic and logistic hassles mentioned above offers little incentive to take the plunge, predictions from industry observers that the supply problems will remain