Most beer is just grain, hops, water and yeast, which sounds vegan and often is. The complication is what happens after brewing: some beers are cleared with fish, and the label rarely tells you.
The issueAnimal finings
Common culpritIsinglass (fish)
VerdictOften vegan, worth checking
Where it hides
Traditional cask and real ales
Some bottled and draught beers
Rarely stated on the label
The ingredients are usually fine
Beer starts as grain, hops, water and yeast, all vegan. The animal question is about clarification, the step that turns cloudy young beer clear. Brewers use finings, and several of the traditional ones are animal-derived.
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Substances used as finings include egg whites, blood, milk, isinglass, and Irish moss.
The one that catches most beer out is isinglass, a form of gelatin made from the swim bladders of fish, long used to settle yeast out of cask ales. Gelatin and egg white are used too. Because finings are a processing aid, they usually do not appear on the label.
How to check
Plenty of beer is vegan. Many large brewers have moved to filtration or plant-based finings. Because the label rarely says, the reliable checks are a vegan mark on the packaging, the brewer's own statement, or a crowd-sourced database such as Barnivore that catalogues which beers are vegan.
WineWine is grapes, but the way it is clarified is the catch. Many bottles are fined with fish, egg, milk or gelatin, others with clay or plant protein, and the label almost never tells you which.
IsinglassIsinglass is fish. It is a collagen made from dried swim bladders and used to clarify some beers and wines, which is why a plain-looking pint can fail the vegan test.
Frequently asked
Why might beer not be vegan?
The ingredients are usually vegan, but some beers are clarified with animal finings. The most common is isinglass, made from fish swim bladders; gelatin and egg white are also used. These are processing aids that clear the beer and rarely appear on the label.
How do I know if a beer is vegan?
Look for a vegan logo, check the brewer's website, or use a database like Barnivore that lists whether specific beers are vegan. Many modern beers use filtration or plant-based finings; traditional cask ales are the most likely to use isinglass.
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