I've never been a big drinker, but in recent years I've developed a taste for beer and I like to have it on occasion. It all started when I discovered Fat Tire - not only is it delicious, but New Belgium is very sustainable and it's often on-tap in CA. That was my beer of choice until I went gluten-free and realized beer was full of it. I wasn't too upset about giving up that occasional treat, but was pretty happy to learn that there are a few gluten-free and vegan beers.
First, for those that wonder what's not vegan about most beer, let me explain. A lot of beer and wine is made with animal products. I highly recommend bookmarking the site Barnivore and downloading their iPhone app Vegan Is Easy - these are super helpful resources whenever I'm out drinking. Here's what they have to say about alcohol:
Brewmasters, winemakers, and distillers may include animal ingredients in their products directly, or they might use them in the processing and filtration. When making the product, dairy, honey, and other things (including, in one case, a whole chicken dropped in the tank) are ingredients in the final recipe. When filtering the drinks prior to bottling, companies can use things like isinglass (from fish bladder,) gelatin, egg whites, and sea shells, among other things. These products grab onto the impurities and make it easier to catch them in the filters, though there are many animal-free alternatives in use.I usually pick a few big name companies and look for them at bars/parties. If they're not there and Barnivore doesn't list them on their site, then I don't drink at all.
So what are my favorite gluten-free and vegan beers?
- Greens has several different brews and I see it often in Los Angeles. It is available at restaurants like Pizza Fusion, and is at Whold Foods.
- Samuel Smith Organic Lager & Ale is super yummy, but beware: it's so smooth you might forget it has an alcohol content!
- Redbridge (by Anheuser Busch) is really light and was easy to find in a small liqueur store in Massachusetts. The store said they tried a lot of gluten-free beers and this was their favorite.
There are other gluten-free beers but I don't know how many of them are vegan. Do you have any GF & vegan beers that you recommend?
2 comments:
Yay BEER! I am going to be working on a Gluten-free recipe one of these days as my cousin gave up gluten and i love challenging myself to make great beers. Sorghum extract is not hard to get but the tartness of that grain is something i would like to get away from. Also, i prefer to brew with all grain and not malt extracts. unfortunately, malted non-gluten grains are not commercially available that i know of so i would need to do my own malting and experiment with them to see which ones are viable for brewing. I know other brewers malt their own grains for gluten-free brewing and have been reading their findings carefully as i come across them.
Anyway, as for the 'veganess' of beer i want to say that for the most part, beer is vegan. The main ingredients in beer are water, malted grain(s), hops and yeast. Beyond that a brewer may/might add other ingredients for various reasons to contribute to flavor or enhance the visual appearance of the beer but again even after additions, beers are usually vegan. Barnivore is a great resource but with so many new craft breweries and growing distributorships it's hard to keep track of every commercial beer available.
I wanted to ask if there is a place in the US where you can buy Samuel Smith Organic Lager?
Post a Comment