Guinness - not vegetarian friendly!!!

one-angry-dwarf · 31-10-2007 4:11am #1

Just in case anyone is unaware of this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness (scroll down to 4. guiness and health)

Apparently Guinness use small quantities of fish bladder in the filtration process. Wikipedia claims this means it's unsuitable for vegans but the way i understand it, it seems as though killing fish is involved and so guinness isn't veggie friendly. As a vegetarian myself though I don't think I'll be giving it up anytime soon. As long as I don't find any scales floating in my pint anyway!

orestes · 31-10-2007 4:28am

An uncle of mine is vegetarian and he doesn't drink guinness, apparently they use animal bone marrow in the fermentation process or something like that. I don't know the details (I, rather ironically considering the idea here, am not vegetarian but don't drink guinness anyway) but he seemed pretty certain and was rightly p!ssed off about having to give up the black stuff when he found out

cozmik · 31-10-2007 7:05am

one-angry-dwarf wrote: »

As a vegetarian myself though I don't think I'll be giving it up anytime soon.

You're either a vegetarian or not, there's no middle ground.

Slaphead07 · 31-10-2007 9:21am

cozmik wrote: »

You're either a vegetarian or not, there's no middle ground.

The fact that Guinness (and most wines) are not veggie friendly is well known but I think it's better for people to answer to their own conscience rather than somebody else's.

Nature Boy · 31-10-2007 5:55pm

I drink Guinness and still consider myself to be veggie. You have to draw the line somewhere. If you were to cut out everything that involves animal creulty in any way you'd probably make your life very unliveable (not sure if that's a word!).

Saruman · 31-10-2007 6:08pm

cozmik wrote: »

You're either a vegetarian or not, there's no middle ground.

Well thats not true. It depends on your reason. There are plenty of veggies out there that are only that way for health reasons. I myself was pescatarian so i only ate fish. Pretty much because i can not eat red meat so i tried giving up all meat and stuck with veg and some fish.

vektarman · 31-10-2007 6:15pm

orestes wrote: »

An uncle of mine is vegetarian and he doesn't drink guinness, apparently they use animal bone marrow in the fermentation process or something like that. I don't know the details (I, rather ironically considering the idea here, am not vegetarian but don't drink guinness anyway) but he seemed pretty certain and was rightly p!ssed off about having to give up the black stuff when he found out

Great story LOL but not true, I work in Guinness and can assure you that no bone marrow is used, however Guinness, like almost every other brewer, use fish finings so it's not just Guinness that's not veggie friendly, I hope I didn't burst all you lager lovers bubble.

cozmik · 31-10-2007 8:25pm

Saruman wrote: »

There are plenty of veggies out there that are only that way for health reasons. I myself was pescatarian so i only ate fish. Pretty much because i can not eat red meat so i tried giving up all meat and stuck with veg and some fish.

It's a good thing to decrease the intake of meat for health reasons, however if you still eat fish then you're not a vegetarian!

Nature Boy · 01-11-2007 9:42am

vektarman wrote: »

however Guinness, like almost every other brewer, use fish finings so it's not just Guinness that's not veggie friendly, I hope I didn't burst all you lager lovers bubble.

I don't think that's true. As far as I know there are a lot of lagers that are veggie.

kraggy · 01-11-2007 5:11pm

cozmik wrote: »

It's a good thing to decrease the intake of meat for health reasons, however if you still eat fish then you're not a vegetarian!

They weren't claiming to be a vegetarian.

Mentalmiss · 01-11-2007 6:46pm

www.gonchong.co.uk/vegbeer.html
Shortcut to: http://tastebetter.com/features/booze/type=beer

This is a list of beers that are suitable. There are some common ones (such as bud) here.

This is for wine
Shortcut to: http://tastebetter.com/features/booze/type=wine

This is for hard liquor
Shortcut to: http://tastebetter.com/features/booze/type=liquor
Jameson is one of the few dodgy ones here.

cozmik · 01-11-2007 7:14pm

kraggy wrote: »

They weren't claiming to be a vegetarian.

huh?

Nature Boy wrote: »

I drink Guinness and still consider myself to be veggie.

orestes · 01-11-2007 7:19pm

vektarman wrote: »

Great story LOL but not true, I work in Guinness and can assure you that no bone marrow is used, however Guinness, like almost every other brewer, use fish finings so it's not just Guinness that's not veggie friendly, I hope I didn't burst all you lager lovers bubble.

Cool, I'l let him know that so, he'll be bloody delighted! Cheers man!

Tar.Aldarion · 01-11-2007 8:36pm

Yeah, I don't drink Guinness because it is not vegetarian.

I drink Guinness and still consider myself to be veggie. You have to draw the line somewhere. If you were to cut out everything that involves animal creulty in any way you'd probably make your life very unliveable (not sure if that's a word!).

It isn't about cutting out animal cruelty, a person can be vegetarian for many different reasons, and not care about animals at all. If I eat things with gelatin etc in them am I vegetarian, can I be vegetarian if I just eat one meat? It's what you eat. You vile pescetarian.

Nature Boy · 01-11-2007 9:13pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Yeah, I don't drink Guinness because it is not vegetarian.

It isn't about cutting out animal cruelty, a person can be vegetarian for many different reasons, and not care about animals at all. If I eat things with gelatin etc in them am I vegetarian, can I be vegetarian if I just eat one meat? It's what you eat. You vile pescetarian.

Lots of animals are killed in the production of vegetables and probably lots of other non meat foods. Does that mean you're not a veggie if you eat them?

Tar.Aldarion · 01-11-2007 9:15pm

Yes. Do you not grow all your own food too?

kraggy · 02-11-2007 12:09pm

cozmik wrote: »

huh?

You quoted Saruman not Nature Boy in that post. That's what i was referring to.

Not looking for a fight. I'm a vegetarian pacifist!

kraggy · 02-11-2007 12:12pm

Nature Boy wrote: »

Lots of animals are killed in the production of vegetables and probably lots of other non meat foods. Does that mean you're not a veggie if you eat them?

I see your point Nature Boy but i think there's a difference between insects inadvertently being killed in the growing of crops and fish being purposely used in the actual production of Guinness.

I'm not on my high chair, just pointing it out.

Tar.Aldarion · 02-11-2007 12:21pm

My joking from before aside, the diffennce I see in this is the same as Kraggy, I have to live with some animals dying from some of the foods I eat, I won't however eat or drink a product where an animal was killed on purpose for its production.

Nature Boy · 02-11-2007 2:57pm

What's the difference? Either way you know the animals will die.

rockbeer · 02-11-2007 3:19pm

Why the obsession with labels?

kraggy · 02-11-2007 5:29pm

Nature Boy wrote: »

What's the difference? Either way you know the animals will die.

So why not eat meat then?

Nature Boy · 02-11-2007 9:02pm

kraggy wrote: »

So why not eat meat then?

Because it's within my capabilities to do so.

Tar.Aldarion · 04-11-2007 1:32pm

I believe what he is saying is that 'What's the difference? Either way you know the animals will die.' is the equivalent of 'why not eat meat, the animal dies anyway'.
If you say 'Because it's within my capabilities to do so.' then that suggests that you do not have the cpability to not drink guinness? :-)

Nature Boy · 04-11-2007 1:34pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

If you say 'Because it's within my capabilities to do so.' then that suggests that you do not have the cpability to not drink guinness? :-)

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. There are certain things I cannot give up such as beer, wine, vegetables, and so on.

XRazorbladesX · 04-11-2007 1:37pm

Oh My God I never knew that!:eek:

Tar.Aldarion · 04-11-2007 1:38pm

That's your decision. With most beers and ciders, and some wines being vegetarian friendly, I don't see why they in particular would be hrd to change, unless you only like them.
The way I see it, if I can give up meat, which is all I ate and liked for 18 years of my life, then I can give up anything.
Why were all the good sweets ridden with gelatine?

XRazorbladesX · 04-11-2007 1:55pm

I miss my Haribos...Been a veggie for 2 years and I love it...But now I'm kinda pissed off

Tar.Aldarion · 04-11-2007 2:01pm

Somebody gave me a pack of haribo and they have ben sitting in my room for 6 months. I love them, must give them to somebody...

XRazorbladesX · 04-11-2007 2:05pm

lol...meat is total murder

one-angry-dwarf · 11-11-2007 3:39pm

cozmik wrote: »

You're either a vegetarian or not, there's no middle ground.

you do have to draw your own line somewhere though. for me, i consider myself vegetarian because i don't consume meat, gelatin etc. guinness doesn't contain any fish bits, they're just used in the process. i guess it just depends on your reason for becoming vegetarian. if you are morally against killing animals or just don't like the thought of eating dead animals. i became vegetarian for the latter, although i do have a problem with the way animals are raised and slaughtered. it's all about drawing your own line. if you don't eat meat, you're vegetarian. any measures you take beyond that (not drinking guinness, not wearing leather, cutting out dairy, not using mousetraps or flyspray etc) are the boundries you set for yourself.

Guinness - not vegetarian friendly!!!

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