-Isinglass is used as to stabilize the foam or head and clarify beer. It comes from the swimbladders of fish (usually sturgeon) that are harvested for food. Collagen is the active ingredient that is gained from the bladders. This is more common in European beers than American brews (Guiness and Kronenbourg both use isinglass). Luckily the fish aren’t caught just for their bladders!
-Gelatin as you probably know is a vegan no-no. It’s made by extracting the collagen from the hides and bones of farm animals. The collagen does the same thing in beer that isinglass does, stabilize and clarify.
-Bone char is used to filter beer. Char is exactly what it sounds like, burnt bones. The process runs the beer through a bone char filter to remove impurities. This is the same process that makes processed sugar not vegan, but the sugar is heated to the point of it being liquid.
-Honey is sometimes used as a sweetener for beer. Who wants sweet beer?
-Bacon….. it’s just weird!
Keeping these ingredients in mind, it isn’t very common for beer to have an ingredient list on the bottle. Do your research before. Please refer to “how we we rate” to know what makes a beer good!
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