Summary- Is Beer Vegan?
Not all the beers are vegan but most are. All the ingredients used in beer are Vegan. However, the fining process of beer is a cause of concern because the companies are under no legal obligation to provide the details about the items used for beer refinement. Moreover, traditionally gelatin (from pigs) and isinglass (from fish) were used for refinement. That does not make the beer itself non-vegan but the process comes under question.
You don’t have to worry, we have provided you with the list of vegan beers and the manner to find out whether a beer is vegan or not.
Beer and veganism
What’s life without beer?
Most people have a liking for beer, and they consume it daily. Did you know that it’s the third most popular drink in the world after water and tea?
According to www.researchandmarkets.com report, the global beer market is forecasted to increase at 3.72% per annum for the period 2020-2025.
Not so surprising that so many people depend on beer.
It is very common in western culture, and you can find beer bottles in most households. Besides being found in nightclubs and bars, they are also common in other events. You name any event, and you’ll find beer there!
Be it parties, weddings, and any celebrations.
As evident from above, beer seems to be necessary for many people and a wholesome drink to have over lunch or dinner.
However, there is a growing concern among the vegan community about the ingredients of beer. Mostly, they question the guarantee of beer’s ingredients being vegan-friendly and specifically for them.
To summarise here is a snippet from google trend that shows how the people over time started asking for “Vegan beer”
Veganism basically means adopting a lifestyle that eliminates food and things that involve cruelty to animals.
Vegan people eat food that totally comes from plant-based material and involves no aspect of animal cruelty.
We’ll analyze this beer issue further and clarify it for our vegan friends.
What are the ingredients in beer?
The four basic ingredients in a beer include water, malt, hops, and yeast. We’ll discuss each of them as follows:
1.Water
The major component of beer is water.
However, different regions have different types of water because of varying mineral compositions. As a result, the different water compositions can make it suitable for making certain types of beer.
For example, Dublin has hard water that is suitable for making stout. Therefore, water from different regions can have a significant impact on beers.
2.Hops
They are a very important ingredient in beers that have the major role of adding flavor.
Most commonly, hop wine’s flower is used as a flavoring and a preservative agent in almost all beers today.
Hops neutralize the sweetness of malt because Hops have a bitterness aspect. Moreover, hops also have a distinct aroma which is reflected in their flavor.
The aroma comes from the essential oils from the hops.
3.Malt
Malt comes from a starch source, and it is a key indicator of the taste and flavor of the beer. Malted grain is the most common starch source for a beer, and its purpose is to provide color and flavor to the beer.
Besides, it also provides maltose and proteins to the beer.
Maltose primarily means the fermentable sugar in the beer, and proteins provide foam formation in the beer.
Moreover, Dextrin is another major component of grain that provides the feeling of fullness in the beer.
Grain is malted by putting it into the water, which subsequently starts the germination process of grain. The process of malting the grain produces enzymes that convert the starch present in the grain into fermentable sugar.
However, you can produce different color and flavor of malt by heating it at different temperatures.
4.Yeast
Yeast is a single-celled organism that converts sugar present in the beer into alcohol.
Yeasts are highly reusable because you can use a single strain of yeast to brew different beer batches. Most commonly, many beers have neutral yeast, which doesn’t affect the beer’s flavor.
Brewer’s yeast is one common type of yeast that is an important accomplice of brewers. Also, brewer’s yeast contains many beneficial nutrients like protein and vitamins that can keep you healthy.
Read more about Why yeast is considered as vegan?
Beer brewing process
Here is a short video to show how beer is brewed. Enjoy.
Is beer vegan friendly?
We have analyzed the most common ingredients of beer above and we don’t want to go with the questions like “is the glue for the stickers on the beer bottles vegan?”
We are not vegan police!
Some vegans don’t care about these very small details while some do.
This is totally upto you.
All of the ingredients are perfectly vegan-friendly.
Grain is a crop and plant-based, hops come from flowers that are plant-based, and yeast is a single-cell organism.
While some people may raise concerns over yeast, yeast comes from the fungus kingdom, and it doesn’t have nerves. Therefore, when it dies, it can’t feel any pain. Therefore, PETA classified it as vegan-friendly, and many vegans are suitable for using it.
Nonetheless, all the basic head-start products are vegan-friendly.
However, the beer won’t be friendly in some cases.
Before the beer is ready for sale, brewers use some fining products for refining their beers.
Mostly, the fining products come from animal-like gelatin or isinglass (fish-based).
Moreover, many commercials adapt to this practice to refine their beers, and it’s quite common.
Brewers refine their beers to improve filterability by binding haze-causing particles like yeast. Therefore, it leads to the formation of large particles, which makes it easier to remove them.
Gelatin comes from the skin, ligaments, or bones of cows and pigs, and it’s definitely not vegan-friendly.
Conclusively, beers that contain fining products of animals are certainly not vegan-friendly.
But to find out which company used which type of fining product is way too difficult unless the producer or seller labels it.
How to Know which beer is vegan?
Thanks to Barnivore, a Global Online Directory of vegan and non-vegan beers.
You can simply visit their website, type the name of the beer, and voila!
You can get your answers easily.
Our list of Vegan-friendly beers
Since the vegan community is increasing in the world, brewers are finding new ways to manufacture beer conform to the beliefs of vegan and don’t harm their ideologies.
Guinness
Several major manufacturers like Guinness have already started supporting vegans.
In 2017, Guinness installed new equipment which allowed them to make their famous stout beer vegan friendly.
Sierra Nevada
It’s one of the popular beer manufacturers that has a variety of beers ranging from stouts to ales. Torpedo Extra IPA is one of its famous beer but you can also try some exquisite beer like Hops like Magnum and Cascade from its versatile products.
You can get vegan options for this beer, but you have to ask your server.
Budweiser
Budweiser is one of the most popular beers in the world. It is produced by Anheuser-Busch and is widely distributed throughout the United States.
Though it is a traditional German beer, the name has long been copied and used in other parts of the world.
They are particularly known as vegan beers because their manufacturing and finishing process don’t involve any animal-derived products
Budweiser beer is vegan except Budweiser Clamato Chelada
Sapporo
It’s quite a light beer that only has 90 calories and only 2.4 grams of carbs. Sapporo was founded in Japan in the year 1876, which marks it one of the oldest beer.
Hence, it is a suitable lager for those people who want to enjoy the drink without worrying about the calories.
Corona
Founded in 1925, Corona has expanded globally and has become an absolute favorite drink for beer lovers. There are three products of the corona, namely corona extra, coronita, and corona light.
The Mexican heritage of this drink creates a relaxing vibe for the consumer.
Apart from that, there are several many more breweries that are making vegan-friendly beers. Some of the best beers’ cans are as follows:
- Purity Brewing Co Bunny Hop Hazy pale ale 3.5% ABV, 330ml: It’s a famous drink that’s gluten-free and unfiltered. Moreover, it includes oats which affect the haziness.
- Siren Lumina session IPA 4.2% ABV, 330ml: A fruitful drink that can bombard and savour your taste buds. It’s also unrefined and totally gluten-free.
- Duvel 330Ml Bottle: It’s a global superstar of Belgian beers because it has won many world beer awards over the years. Moreover, it also contains all basic vegan-friendly ingredients.
- If you’re looking for stout style beer, you can have one from Guinness, imperial porter and extra stout. Most of them generally have vegan-friendly beers.
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