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Guinness

Guinness is going vegan

The company announced on Monday that starting at the end of 2016, its beer will no longer contain trace amounts of fish bladder, an integral part of its filtration process.

Few customers — except perhaps vegans and vegetarians who enjoy a pint — were probably even aware that the famous inky-black drink contained any fish parts at all. But it is actually quite common for cask beers to be filtered using isinglass, a gelatinlike substance derived from the dried swim bladders of fish [how on earth was that ever discovered? Ed] that is used to separate out unwanted solids like yeast particles from a brew, the company said.

“Isinglass has been used widely within the brewing industry as a means of filtration for decades. However, because of its use we could not label Guinness as suitable for vegetarians and have been looking for an alternative solution for some time,” the company said in a statement.

The substance is removed from the beer after it has fulfilled its filtration role. Zsoka McDonald, a spokeswoman for the company, said that only “trace amounts” ever make it into the final product. That has been enough, however, to keep most vegan drinkers away.

McDonald said the company has used isinglass since at least the 19th century, “but it is likely it was used prior to that as well.” She said its products would be fish-bladder free when the new system is implemented by the end of 2016, but declined to describe how its new vegan-friendly process would work.

Guinness said that it had arrived at a solution to its vegan problem through “investment in a state-of-the-art filtration system” at its St James Gate Brewery in Dublin, where its beverages have been brewed since the company’s founder, Arthur Guinness, signed a 9,000-year lease on the site in 1759.

Edmund Long, the spokesman for Vegan Ireland, an advocacy group, said that vegans there had been complaining to the company, writing letters and signing petitions for as long as he could remember, and they were delighted by the decision.

“We are always happy to see another product become suitable for vegans, especially because this one is very iconic here in Ireland,” he said. “It’s one of the products you associate with Ireland; Guinness is usually up there.”

Source: New York Times, The Times