By Kent Palmer
Madison Magazine
Special To Channel 3000

It's not the stuff you snarf on St. Paddy's Day. Nor is it the skunky import in an emerald bottle. It's not too young or inexperienced. It's juuust right and the right thing to do.

Green beer, organic brew, is sweeping the nation, and is popping up in the Madison area.

"Organic," in this case, means the ingredients are grown under specifications that no x-dicides are used (given the variable x, no poisons were certifiably used) in their propagation. Beginning in November, New Glarus Brewing is scheduled to produce its Organic Pale Ale, with organic barley malted at Breiss Maltiers in Chilton, Wisc.

Dan Carey, New Glarus Brewing's award-winning brew-master, is rooted in the German brewing tradition. "Having apprenticed in Germany, perpet-uating that brewing heritage is important," he says.

Carey, who earned his credentials in America and Europe, tells me about Rheinheitsgebot, centuries-old Bavarian purity laws, the history of brewing and human nature. These laws have allowed only malted barley, hops and water in beer since 1516--before little weeyeasties were known to exist--as barley was cheap and easy to grow.

Carey says, "Beer is like politics; it's all about the local." Thus, barley, good for little more than livestock feed--or malting and fermenting--became the German ingredient of choice. In America, that would be maize; in Africa, sorghum. English brewers employed a variety of exotic sugars from the colonies. The Belgians used available fruits to sweeten their naturally sour lambics.

Where to get it

Six-packs of Organic Pale Ale from New Glarus Brewing are in coolers of the finest of liquor purveyors throughout the area. Also look for Wolaver's from Otter Creek (VT) and Peak Organic Brewing's (ME) compen-dium of organic ales. Even Anheuser-Busch is getting into the organic market aliased as boutique microbrewers.

Eat with it

After a flit around your fave Farmers' Market, boil your organic brats in organic beer, or use some to deglaze your sauté.

Entertain with it

Assemble a variety of organic beers and serve them for friends along with the meal you've prepared from your latest CSA delivery. Community Supported Agriculture buoys local organic farming operations and economies, preserves valuable local soils and protects watersheds and a variety of species. Plus CSAs reduce ever-increasing transportation costs and one's carbon footprint.

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