NEWS

"Vegan beer? Isn't all beer vegan?" This is the common reaction heard when vegans mention that some beer might not be vegan. It is also an issue that tends to make vegans seem fanatical about what they ingest.

The ingredients in beer are typically vegan: a grain such as barley or wheat along with hops, yeast and water. Some beers might use honey as an ingredient, and many vegans don't eat honey, but it is usually part of the name of the beer and easy to spot. The main vegan issue concerning beer is not with the ingredients used to make beer but with the filtering agents used to purify it.

The filtering process is known in the brewing world as "fining". Here is a description of how that works from Beersmith.com: "Fining agents generally have large molecules that are positively charged. These charged molecules attach themselves to negatively charged contaminants and then precipitate them out of the finished beer – helping these contaminants rapidly settle to the bottom of the fermenter."

Some of the common ingredients used to do this are definitely NOT VEGAN (compiled from Vegan Vangaurd):

• Isinglass is traditionally made from the swim bladders of fish. Apparently there is now a synthetic version of isinglass which is vegan, making the issue a little murkier.
• Gelatin is derived from boiling animal tissues and bone meal is made from crushed or ground animal bones.
• Lactose is a disaccharide sugar taken from cow's milk. It is used to add sweetness or a smooth character to beer.

There are also a couple fining agents that might seem non-vegan, but aren't. Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a filter material made from the fossil remains of unicellular microscopic organisms called diatoms, which are fossilized plants. Yeast is a fungus used to ferment alcohol. A fungus is a plant lacking chlorophyll, not a sentient being.

So how is a vegan to find out if a beer is vegan-friendly? Luckily there is a web site dedicated to just that! Barnivore.com has an extensive list of beers and whether or not they are vegan. The site also has listings for wine and liquor. There are even some iPhone Apps that have been developed using the Barnivore database for anyone who is out at a bar and trying to decide what beer to order. Just don't let that be a segway to drunk dialing!

New Orleans has two local breweries, the Abita Brewing Company and the NOLA Brewing Company. The Abita Brewing Company's beer is vegan. According to brewmaster Mark Wilson their beer "is filtered through a centrifuge to remove most of the yeast and then through cellulose pads that filter out the rest of the yeast and large protiens." The NOLA Brewing Company uses animal ingredients to clarify their beer. According to brewmaster Peter Caddoo "We use gelatin from collegen of animal hooves so to speak. Its the same gelatin that you would use to make jello shots."

Abita has a seasonal brew, Strawberry Harvest Lager, that is made from local Louisiana strawberries. It is available at Whole Foods and most other places that sell Abita in the area. Several vegan sources have confirmed that this beer is delicious! 

For those who think that vegans are probably all teetotalers who live to deny themselves pleasure, let it be known that there is a Vegan Drinks movement spreading across the US. This movement started in NYC and was inspired by Green Drinks, a monthly meetup for environmentally-minded people to meet up for drinks and networking. There is a Green Drinks in New Orleans but so far no Vegan Drinks. It is high time someone starts one here!

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