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.

Short pour: "Saison's in the sun"

Dungarvan Brewery celebrates their 5th anniversary this week. Hard to believe five years has pass by so soon. I have know Cormac, Dungarvan's head brewery and one of it's founders from the old homebrewing threads on Boards.ie. From this  an interested group founded Irish Craft brewers (ICB). Which ICB in turn evolved into Beoir as an "Independent group of consumers with a primary goal of supporting and raising awareness of Ireland's native independent microbreweries". 

From a small band of homebrewers on ICB, emerged some of Irish best know craft breweries, Trouble Brewing, Metalman Brewing and Dungarvan. As of Dungarvan's beers their Blackrock stout is one of my favorite beers on cask. But it's hotly contended by Helvick gold. 

For their 5th anniversary brew they decided to do something different. Not the usual barrel aged imperial stout or double IPA. They opted for a collaboration  brew with  Nøgne Ø to  produce a seaweed saision (6.5% ABV). Using locally sourced Dillisk seaweed, possibly a world first or for Ireland at least? But what a week to release a sasion on the Irish market,  five days of glorious sunshine. 

Colour: Light orange.

Aroma: Candied citrus fruits, slight sweet malt. Finishing up with a light classic saison phenols  and hint  of spiciness.

Taste: Dry, light to medium bodied beer with crisp carbonation. But the refreshing carbonic bite from the bottle conditioning  that lightens the body further.  I do like my saison's to air on the dry side. Then following with some Belgian phenols/pepperiness. Towards the ends I got a woody/ smoky taste  possibly from the seaweed, that was rather pleasant.  All ending with a light hop bitterness and a hint of  saltness. Brewed with lager malt and East Kent goldings hops is a firm nod to the traditional Wallonia  brewing. A very well brewed sasion, possible one of the best I have had from an Irish brewer. With the unique addition of Dillisk seaweed. I had the beer in its bottled form, but there are keg and casks knocking around. The interplay between the carbonation and the Dillisk seaweed would  make these different formats worth seeking out.