Vegan Beer: What to Look For and What DrinkWell Stocks

Not all beer is vegan. While most bottled and canned lagers are filtered or pasteurised without animal products, cask ales commonly use isinglass (made from fish bladders) to clarify the beer after fermentation. If you're vegan and drinking at a pub, bottled beer is the safer choice over cask ale.

Why isn't all beer vegan?

The main non-vegan ingredient used in beer is isinglass — a fining agent derived from dried fish bladders that helps yeast settle out of cask ales more quickly. It doesn't remain in the finished beer in significant quantities, but the process uses an animal-derived material. Most modern bottled and canned beers use filtration or centrifugation instead, making them vegan by default.

Vegan beer at DrinkWell

Both beers in our current range are confirmed vegan, gluten free, and among the lowest-calorie full-strength beers available in the UK.

• → Lean Brew IPA — vegan, gluten free, 99 kcal, 3g carbs, 4.5% ABV, from £17.99 for 12 cans. Award-winning IPA with 32.5 IBU bitterness. Gold at the European Craft Beer Awards 2021.
• → Tennents Light Lager — vegan, gluten free, 60 kcal, 0.7g carbs, 3.5% ABV, £34.99 for 24 bottles. Made from 100% Scottish-grown cereals and fresh highland water from Loch Katrine.

Shop vegan beer and wine

• → Vegan beer collection
• → Vegan wine collection — 270+ confirmed vegan bottles
• → Gluten free beer

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