Vegan Beer

Is beer vegan?

Beer's main ingredients are water, hops, yeast and malted grains (usually barley).

However, some breweries use gelatin or isinglass 'finings' from fish swim bladders to help the yeast settle so their beers become clear more quickly. Sometimes certain beer recipes will call for animal products such as oysters, honey and lactose. So, in short: not all beer is vegan.

These days a growing number of breweries are rejecting the use of gelatin and isinglass in favour of vegan friendly methods such as silica gel, carrageen (also known as Irish moss), centrifuging, or just not fining/filtering their beer at all. If you don't eat animal products and follow a plant-based diet, it's best you check the ingredients list on the beer label and look for a "Vegan" label.

Some of these breweries might produce the odd beer using lactose or honey as part of the recipe, but you won't see those particular beers here - every single beer in this category is vegan friendly. With a huge selection including American favourites such as Flying Dog and Sierra Nevada, and British breweries like Kernel, Beavertown and Bad Seed, there's an ever-increasing variety to choose from. Being a vegan beer drinker has never been more exciting!