After reading this post, don't forget to enter our contest – you could win a new dishwasher. Plus, do you have your own story to tell? Send it to greenchallenge@canadianliving.com (no more than 300 words, please), and you could win one of 30 daily prizes. Further to my post on greening your consumption of tea and coffee, you can also make more eco-friendly picks when it comes to alcoholic drinks. Here are a few tips. • Choose organic. One popular organic beer here in Toronto is Mill Street Organic Lager, which uses organic hops and malt. • Choose local. The first step is drinks that were bottled near you; the second is drinks whose ingredients were grown near you. (Note that many Canadian wineries import their grapes.) This is a good excuse for beer and wine lovers to sample all their local offerings. • Recycle bottles and cans. Aluminum recycling is far, far more efficient than producing new cans – help the process out by making sure those cans don't end up in the garbage. • Choose the right mix. Go for local juices if you can (cranberry over orange) and locally produced pops, as well. • Skip the straws and umbrellas. Or if you must use them, reuse them. One brand I've recently heard of is 360 Vodka, which has tons of eco-friendly features: among other things, the bottle is made of recycled glass, the packaging is recycled and printed with water- and soy-based inks, the company has committed to switching part of its electricity usage to green power, and even its billboards are going to be turned into shopping bags when they come down. What are some of your favourite organic and local wines, beers and spirits? Today's code word: alcohol Read more: • Win two tickets to a Toronto local food event on April 11 • How to conserve water in your kitchen