Is Beer Vegan? How to Tell, and What to Buy

Most beer is vegan, but not all of it. Beer is brewed from four ingredients: water, malted grain, hops and yeast. None come from animals. The problem happens after brewing, when some producers use animal-derived products to clear the beer.

The short version: bottled and canned beer is almost always vegan. Cask ale in a pub often isn't. Here's how to tell the difference.

Why isn't all beer vegan?

The culprit is isinglass, a fining agent made from dried fish bladders, usually cod or sturgeon.

Fresh beer is cloudy with suspended yeast. Left alone it clears on its own, but that takes weeks. Isinglass speeds it up by binding to the yeast cells and dragging them to the bottom of the cask in a couple of days, leaving a bright, clear pint.

Almost none of it ends up in your glass, since it's removed with the sediment. But it's an animal product used in production, which puts the beer off limits for most vegans.

Isinglass is a traditional cask ale technique, and British real ale is where you'll find it most. Modern breweries increasingly use filtration, centrifugation or simply time instead, all of which do the same job without the fish.

Other non-vegan ingredients to watch for

Isinglass is the common one, but not the only one:

• Gelatine. Used as an alternative fining agent by some breweries.
• Lactose. A milk sugar that gives milk stouts and some pastry stouts their sweetness and body. Unlike isinglass, this stays in the beer.
• Honey. Used in honey beers and some ales, either in the brew or for priming.
• Casein. A milk protein occasionally used for clarification.
• Glycerol monostearate. A foam stabiliser that can be animal-derived, though plant versions are now standard.

Lactose is the one to be most careful about, because it's an ingredient rather than a processing aid. A milk stout is never vegan.

Is Guinness vegan?

Yes. All Guinness has been vegan since 2018.

It's the most famous example of a brewery dropping isinglass, and it took a while. Guinness used fish-derived finings for 256 years. After announcing the change in 2015, St James's Gate brought in a new filtration system that reached kegs first, then bottles and cans. By 2018 Diageo confirmed every Guinness product worldwide was isinglass free.

That covers Guinness Draught, Extra Stout, Foreign Extra Stout and Guinness 0.0. The recipe and taste were not changed, only the filtration.

Which beers are usually vegan?

Usually vegan:

• Lagers in bottles and cans
• Most modern craft beer, including IPAs
• Keg beer from contemporary breweries
• Wheat beers, which are meant to be cloudy so need no fining

Often not vegan:

• Cask ale and real ale in pubs
• Traditional bitters and milds
• Milk stouts and pastry stouts (lactose)
• Honey beers

If you're at a pub and unsure, ordering a bottled or canned lager over a hand-pulled cask ale is the safer call.

How to check if a beer is vegan

Fining agents count as processing aids, not ingredients, so breweries aren't legally required to list them. The label often tells you nothing.

Three things that work:

• Look for a vegan mark. More brands print one now, and many carry the Vegan Society trademark.
• Check Barnivore. A free online database of vegan beers, wines and spirits, and the quickest way to check a specific brand.
• Ask the brewery. Most answer readily, and many now state their fining method on their website.

Or buy from somewhere that has already checked. Every beer in the DrinkWell vegan range is confirmed at producer level.

Does vegan beer taste different?

No. Isinglass is removed before the beer reaches you, so it contributes nothing to flavour, body or aroma. A vegan beer is simply beer clarified a different way.

The one exception is milk stout, where the lactose genuinely does change the taste. There's no vegan version that tastes identical, because the ingredient is the point.

Vegan beer at DrinkWell

Our vegan range is also low calorie and full strength, so nothing is compromised twice over. Currently in stock:

The lowest calorie vegan beer: Tennents Light

84 calories and 0.8g of carbs, brewed in Glasgow from 100% Scottish cereals and Loch Katrine water. Vegan and gluten free, and it still drinks like a proper malty lager.

The best vegan IPA: Lean Brew IPA

DrinkWell's own award-winning IPA, carrying 32.5 IBU of hop bitterness at 99 calories. Gold at the European Craft Beer Awards 2021. Vegan, gluten free, and the cheapest way into the range at £17.99 for 12.

The lowest carb: The Löwecal IPA

Under 1g of carbs at 4.4% ABV. If you're vegan and keto, this is the one.

Also worth watching for restock: SkinnyBrands Lager at 76 calories, the lightest vegan beer we stock, plus SkinnyBrands IPA, Lean Brew Lager, The Löwecal Lager at 0g carbs, and Gen!us Craft Lager at 3% ABV.

What about vegan wine?

Same problem, different agent. Wine is fined with isinglass, egg white, casein or gelatine, and the label rarely says so. Our vegan wine collection is confirmed vegan at producer level, and every bottle is zero sugar.

Shop vegan at DrinkWell

• Vegan beer: confirmed vegan, full strength
• Vegan wine: red, white, rosé and sparkling
• Gluten-free beer
• Keto beer: lowest carb options

Free delivery on orders over £99.

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