A few days ago, Morgan Wolaver, founder of Wolaver's Organic Ales stopped in the Handlebar for lunch. He's in town for the Organic Trade Association's All Things Organic trade show. Morgan pretty much pioneered organic beer and it turns out he is a real nice guy to boot.
Many years ago, when I brewed Wolaver's line of organic beers while working at Goose Island Fulton (they also brew Whole Foods' Lamar St. organic beer). Initially all of Wolaver's beers were contract brewed by 3-4 regional breweries, but they are now all made at the Otter Creek Brewery in Vermont, which Wolaver's purchased a few years ago. I can understand the initial logic of wanting to brew beer locally to keep it fresh, but it sounds like their new production strategy is working better. They have focused n building their presence in the home New England market and have just recently returned to Chicago after leaving for a period. It is also nice to hear a positive story of a contract-brewer making the transition to making their own and managing a brewing plant.
I tasted their Brown Ale, which was clean, smooth and drinkable albeit not very brown in color. I didn't check the dates, but it tasted fresh, especially for an import form the eastern seaboard.
There seems to be a much wider availability of organic base and specialty malts available these days form places like Briess in Chilton, WI. However, the variety of organic hops still available to brewers is still disappointing. The Seven Bridges Cooperative's website notes that they only had 4 varieties for sale in 1997 and now have several dozen. Unfortunately, I could only see one American hop variety available (Cascade). At the Revolution, I'm sure we'll make some organic brews, but I just couldn't imagine doing without all the great aromas and flavors of American hops.