Vegan Friendly Irish Craft Beer

Well Diageo has finally bowed to pressure from the vegan/vegetarian community and has declared that the pride of St James gate will be vegan friendly. With the removal of isinglass, a product derived from the swim bladders of fish and is expected to happen sometime around mid-2016. Isinglass is a fining agent that clarifies the beer. Where it's positively charge and binds the negatively charged yeast and which then falls out of solution, leaving a clear beer. There has been plenty of debate over the years of whether its use is needed in modern brewing. But probably its biggest use of isinglass still is within the cask conditioned ale of England. Obviously since it’s an animal product this has raised objections from vegan/vegetarians. But there has been a counter movement over that last few years with “Unfined beer", where Moor Beer has been leading the charge in the UK. 

"We are at the beginning of the project to install the new system. It’s a complex project and will take many months to install and test before it goes live and is used I the production of Guinness.” A company spokeswoman said via The Journal.ie 

But as ever, it’s the Irish craft beer sector that has been quietly been leading the charge for the last few years. A number of breweries have confirmed that their beers are Vegan friendly. The list below I would not be surprised to see grow over the next few years. 

St.Mel's Brewing Company

DungarvanBrewing Company 

Western Herd

Simon Lambert & Sons 

RyeRiver (McGargles, Grafters, Solas, Crafty)  

O Brother Brewing

Galway Bay Brewery*

So all is not is not lost, vegans can enjoy an Irish craft beer in many places around Ireland while supporting small indigenous independent breweries. Now that’s something worth raising a pint to. *Exception Buried at Sea which contains lactose.