Shout Dad an Aussie organic beer

While at the Organic Expo in Sydney recently we were very happy to taste some of Australia's fine organic wines and even a beer!

We were particularly excited about the Burragumbilli Certified Organic Lager and thought it would be a great treat for Dad on Father's Day…without the hangover!

A boutique beer brewed in New South Wales, Burragumbilli is growing in popularity and reputation as a quality, clean tasting “green” choice for the thinking drinker. It has no added sugar, no preservatives and no harmful chemical residues.

The beer follows an organic processing chain from farm to malt house to brewery and bottling to achieve the high status Australian Certified Organic (ACO) certification.

Organic malts and hops have no chemical residues to interfere with fermentation producing a clean, unadulterated beer. Organic lager has exceptional clarity without the use of harmful chemical fining agents, and it has a clean, flavourful taste.



Would you like a cocktail with that beer?
If you are drinking a beer that is not certified organic you are likely to be imbibing a chemical cocktail at the same time.  It can include the residues from farming processes, storage and preservative requirements, several of which are carcinogenic, as well as residues of industrial cleaners and chemical additives to the brew such as flavours, colours, and preservatives.

The benefit of organic beverages is not only are they chemical free but they are also either preservative free or produced with low preservatives, which has a proven tendency to be gentler on your system with less headaches the next day.

Burragumbilli barley and hops are grown without industrial fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides or fungicides and therefore are without the common chemical residues of conventionally grown crops. Hops in particular are very susceptible to fungal diseases and conventionally grown crops generally require fungicidal applications. Organic hops must be grown with wider spaced plants and rigorous pruning to improve sunlight penetration and airflow to restrict fungal infections.

Where to buy a Burra 

Check the list of retail outlets for Burragumbilli organic beer here. If your local bottle shop doesn’t already, why not ask them to start stocking Burragumbilli. Plus, it now has the distinction of being the first organic beer offered on Virgin Australia international and some domestic flights.

Organic Wines

The 2009 Temple Bruer Thistle Hill Riesling was awarded the Best Wine of Show & Best White at the Australia / New Zealand Organic Wine Show, whilst the 2007 Temple Bruer Shiraz Malbec Preservative Free took the Best Red & Best Preservative Free trophy.

Temple Bruer is regarded as one of the pioneers in organic viticulture and oenological practices in Australia. David and Barbara Bruer established a small vineyard in the early 1970's on a property situated on the main road between the towns of Strathalbyn and Milang, in the grape growing district of Langhorne Creek in South Australia. David was in charge of Roseworthy College's Oenology Department before becoming a full-time vigneron, while Barbara also taught chemistry at Roseworthy College and Flinders University for ten years.

Today Temple Bruer is Australia's largest certified organic label and its reputation for quality wine is firmly established.

www.organicwine.com.au is an online wine retailer specialising in organic wine, biodynamic wine and preservative free wine.  Organic, biodynamic, and minimal interference practices when employed competently lead to a superior and unique quality product. The individual “personality” of each wine can be fully expressed for us all to savour.

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Pure and Green - achieving "real" organic skin care

We have looked closely at many natural skin care brands and as you may know many are just “bulk purchased bases” that are custom branded.  Further, many brands claiming to be organic are either not certified, or they use a certification that allows fairly small quantities of organic ingredients.

Unique skin care formulations are few in number and certified organic choices with close to 100% organic content are rare.   Newcomer Pure and Green Organics is an exceptional Australian creation that has ticked all the eco-credentials, led by an enterprising young businessperson wanting to achieve something special.

In June 2009, Pure and Green was the first company in the world to have every product in its range from face, body, dental and hair care to be certified organic.  You can usually tell when an eco company is "for real" by the extra steps taken that set them apart.  Pure and Green has shown deep consideration the whole way through to the packaging, using innovative ingredients and mixing their own formulations in a custom built kitchen.

ACO certification
We have learned that there are very different standards applied by organic certification bodies.  Pure and Green chose to be certified by Australian Certified Organic (ACO), the gold standard for high-level cosmetics certification.  It requires:

• at least 95% of ingredients by mass to be certified organic (other certifiers accept as little as 20%);
• no use of synthetic vitamins (eg. pro-vitamin B5) or synthetic surfactants (eg. coco glucoside, coco betaine), which other Australian certifiers will allow; and
  
• no toxic solvents to be used as ingredients or used in the extraction of any other ingredients. Other certifiers may not check, creating a loophole for toxins to silently enter products which still get labelled 'certified organic'.

Palm oil free
Palm oil is often hidden in derivatives like sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium palmate, stearic acid and glycerine without mentioning it on the label, or it is labelled as palmitate or simply "vegetable" oil.  Pure and Green has gone to lengths to ensure there is no palm oil in any ingredient.

Certified vegan and cruelty-free
The products carry independent certification of this, again taking it that extra step.

World leading packaging

• The first cosmetic company in the world to use 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard caps for its bottles. Not just recycled, but they have even ensured it is post-consumer, which is the true standard for recycled paper.
  
• The first company in Australia to use BIOpack bottles made from plant sugar.  This was not an "off the shelf" packaging option -- they achieved this with persistence, and they are custom manufactured for Pure and Green in a carbon-neutral factory.
  

We have been so impressed by the creators of Pure and Green with their responsiveness and openness to questions.  They are small business people who have fought every step of the way to make things happen that most others accept are not possible, like the BIOpack plastic bottles and eliminating palm oil.

Take a wholistic approach to your skin care by choosing safe mineral makeup.  We have selected the three best mineral makeup brands for Biome - read more about Inika, Sante and Musq mineral makeup.

National Organics Week will take place from October 16 - 25.  Stay tuned for organic-themed events and specials in the Biome stores. 

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