Is Alcohol Vegan?

Now I know what you’re thinking, how could alcohol not be vegan? What does it contain that makes it unsuitable for vegans? Well luckily for us boozy vegans, most alcohol is vegan however there are some interesting truths behind the process making alcohol!

Let me spill the gin and tell you everything you need to know.

The Background

Beer and wine are two very different drinks however they’re both made the same way through fermentation. This process is what converts the grapes into wine and the water and grains into beer. However this process only working with one vital ingredient… yeast.

Yeast is a natural fungi, which consumes all the sugars found in beer grains and the wines grapes converting them into carbon dioxide and a specific type of alcohol called ethanol. The carbon dioxide by product is then trapped in beers, ciders and sparkling wines to give them their bubbles. (Yes ladies, the bit that goes straight to our head!)

While this simple process works fine for wine and beer, making spirits like rum and vodka can be slightly more complex, because yeast, delicate as it is cannot survive in the high alcohol content of spirits. Thats where the distillation comes in. Distillation involves boiling a liquid and collecting the condensed vapours, in the case of spirits the fermented liquid is boiled until the ethanol vaporises leaving behind water and those particular vapours becoming liquors.

The Vegan Part

Okay so… Based on what we know already your probably thinking what does this have to do with alcohol being vegan? Well it would seem that there is no animal products involved in the process yet, This is almost true, except in the cases of some beers and liquors that are sweetened with honey. While the simple and straightforward processes of fermentation and distillation are animal free, the process of refining alcohol may require a surprising array of animal based ingredients.

Isinglass and Gelatine

The most common animal ingredients are known as isinglass and gelatine which are known as 'fining agents' in this industry.

Isinglass is a substance taken from dried fish bladders and gelatine is derived from animal bones and skin. Yuck.

These agents make drinks such as wine and beer brighter and clearer to make them more appealing to customers. Isinglass is most commonly used to clarify beer; it attracts leftover yeast in the brew causing them to clump together so they’re easier to filter out from the finished product. So if you’re a vegan consumer you might find there is nothing appealing about these additives!

How do I know which alcohol are vegan?

Even with all this information it's really hard to know what wine and beers use animal products or not, as none of this information is usually on the bottle. However there are some really useful websites you can use:

Barnivore: http://www.barnivore.com/

When shopping look at the labels, high-street supermarkets particularly M&S and Tesco's are really good at labelling vegan alcohols.

So there we have it, you learn something new everyday, especially when you are starting on your vegan journey. Don't let this stop your boozy night out - just stick to the stuff you know and you can always give me a DM over on my Instagram @naturallyvegan_community, if you are ever stuck.