Organic Liquor

Now you can have an organic cocktail to wash down your meal of organic, cage-free chicken and spring vegetables.

It was only a matter of time before the organic movement reached liquor. Now, several distillers use organic ingredients to produce their spirits.

But drinkers shouldn't think that they're getting "healthy" liquor. The term organic is a marketing term that describes how a product is produced or handled, says Gwendolyn Wyard of Oregon Tilth, a nonprofit organization that certifies organic products. It doesn't mean that the product is necessarily healthier than traditionally produced products, Ms. Wyard says.

So what's the point of organic liquor? That's a question that Melkon Khosrovian, co-founder of distiller Modern Spirits, gets all the time. "It's about sustainable farming," he says, arguing that traditional farming involves pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, which can be harmful to farmers who come in contact with it and the ground used to grow the ingredients. "We would like to support farmers to move away from those processes," Mr. Khosrovian says.

Organic liquor is still a niche product, so it may be hard to find at liquor stores with small selections.