{"id":8600,"date":"2010-04-20T09:31:07","date_gmt":"2010-04-20T13:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=8600"},"modified":"2020-02-26T15:22:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T20:22:37","slug":"vegan-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/vegan-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer's Dirty Little Vegan Secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy is a beer blogger at BillyBrew.com <\/a>where he’s saving the world from bland, tasteless beer by teaching about flavorful craft beer. Like me, he is a homebrewer. Billy manages to avoid a beer gut by staying active in snowboarding, barefoot running, and kettlebell training. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"CartoonOh delicious beer.<\/p>\n

Sitting there so innocently, just waiting for that lucky person to pop you open and take a sip.<\/p>\n

If that person is vegan, however, they may be in for a startling surprise.<\/p>\n

You Wouldn’t Think It<\/h3>\n

In its purest form, beer is made from four main ingredients: water, malt, hops, and yeast. Sure other ingredients find their way in, especially during our current American craft beer revolution where innovative brewers are really pushing the envelope, but their concoctions are usually still plant-based: raspberry wheat ales, chili pepper beers—that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

Yup, at first glance beer seems to pass the vegan test with flying colors.<\/p>\n

But further down the process line, past the main cooking tanks, beer often becomes a vegan no-no.<\/p>\n

What to Watch Out For<\/h3>\n

Note: This is a good point to pause and define what I mean by vegan. To cover all bases I’ll take a strict approach and say vegan means no animal products, whether the animal was killed or not. Less-strict vegetarians may be cool with some of the following ingredients mentioned, but not others. I’ll let you use your judgment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Although there are plenty of vegan-friendly beers out there, many breweries use animal products in the brewing process. Their most common use is as clarifying agents, but animal parts are also used for head retention, flavor, and coloring.<\/p>\n

Because the U.S. does not have any laws requiring disclosure of non-vegan ingredients, beer labels rarely mention their use.<\/p>\n

Some animal products are the main ingredients in a beer and are easy to spot.\u00a0 These are usually indicated on the label and can easily be avoided.\u00a0 Honey is a common example.<\/p>\n

It’s the animal products used in smaller proportions that don’t make it to the labels that you need to watch out for.<\/p>\n

Here is a list of the most common animal products that are used in brewing:<\/p>\n