The Scary, Fishy Stuff That May Be Hiding in Your Favorite Beer and Wine

One thing I really don’t like the thought of is giving up a cold beer after a hot day’s work. That feeling of cracking it open and admiring a completed project just makes me happy. For others, I know an evening glass of wine to melt away a stressful day is just tops, something that a cup of tea—however nice—can’t replace. The good news is, thanks the powers of all that is right, a 100 percent plant-based diet doesn’t mean losing these tiny glimpses into the divine.

While it was disappointing (the bad news) to find out that many beer and wine options are off the table for vegans and vegetarians, rest assured that life moves on. Maybe your favorite brands will need to be replaced, maybe they were by default hip to the lifestyle, but either way, there are plenty of good wholly animal-free beer and wine options to explore. We’ll get to that. First, though, let’s find out why beer and wine aren’t always vegan-friendly.

A New Take on Beer Bladder

Recently, on a visit to England, where I love to taste-test the vast variety of beers available, I was gutted to find out many of them were not vegan, including the lauded Guinness Stout. The problem: fish bladders. Isinglass, collagen from the dried swim bladders of fish, which the animals use for regulating buoyancy, is also used in part of the brewing process—fining—for many beers. In fact, this practice, though largely unknown, has been around for centuries and isn’t all that uncommon.

There are other surprising ingredients sometimes used to process beer. Gelatin—collagen made from the hides and bones of animals—is often used in place of isinglass. Bone char, literally burnt bones, is commonly used for filtering beer. (This same filtering process also makes some refined sugar non-vegan.) Lastly, the more readily identifiable inclusion of honey as a sweetener makes some beers difficult for the 100 percent vegan eater.

Unfortunately, there is no regulation requiring brewers to list ingredients to help us out. Luckily, Barnivore, a website with an unbelievable extensive list of which beers work and don’t work for plant-based pro-activists, makes deciphering what’s what a lot easier. Hey, it’s an extra step, but worth taking for a animal-free cold one.

What’s up With Wine?

Well, wine uses the same fining process as beer to remove particles from the lovely liquid. In turn, isinglass—from the fish bladders—is commonly the agent that accomplishes this. What’s more, wine fining can also include other unsavory elements like gelatin, albumen and casein. Albumen is a fancy word for egg whites, and casein is a horrid, addictive protein in dairy products.

The other problem is misunderstanding labels. Companies aren’t misleading consumers, but perhaps some consumers don’t realize the intricacies of some labels. Be aware that “organic” does not mean vegetarian or vegan and that many organic wines use organic animal proteins in the process. What’s more, a vegetarian wine can still be fined with casein and/or albumen, making it non-vegan. Best to visit Barnivore’s wine list before selecting your next vintage.

Hey! It’s Not All Bad

Like anything vegan, it’s possible to spend a boatload on finding a beer or wine with vegan tags, but it isn’t necessary. In fact, many bargain bottles are just intrinsically plant-based. For example, Anheuser-Busch—Bud, Michelob, Busch, Carlsberg—doesn’t use animals (except maybe Clydesdales in the ads), and nor do Sierra Nevada or Abita (my favorite) for that matter. As for wine, the ubiquitous Yellow Tail doesn’t offend, and Two-Buck Chuck is still a possibility. Otherwise, there are plenty of vegan wines to sip.

So, there you have it. A slight scare, another simple righting of the ship, and continued smooth sailing the calm waters of plant-based living. Time for a drink.

Want to learn more? Check out this One Green Planet interview with Cheryl Durzy, proprietor of Clos LaChance, the first openly vegan vineyard, and this great article on the ins and outs of vegan wines.

Image Source: Nic McPhee/Flickr