BrewDog Now Registered With Vegan Society

We are now registered with the Vegan Society.

From now on our beer labels will proudly bear this logo, indicating that they are suitable for the hundreds of thousands of people who follow the principles of veganism in the UK (and many more overseas). That’s not something that can be said by the peddlers of lowest-common denominator industrial beer, who are driven purely by their balance sheets.

So what exactly is vegan-friendly beer, and how do ours qualify?

Some breweries use fish or animal-derived products to improve the clarity of their beers – either gelatin or Isinglass. This latter product may sound like an orc-besieged castle in Middle Earth, but is actually derived from the swim bladders of certain fish. These substances, known as finings, bind to yeast and cause it to settle out, leaving behind a clearer beer.

These are not things we have ever used at BrewDog – as far as we’re concerned their only possible advantage is purely one of cost. We let technology handle things instead, with our rock and roll centrifuge. This gyratory guardian spins at 4,700 times per minute, pushing the unwanted particulates to the bottom whilst leaving our beer suitable for vegans!

Our centrifuge was a key component of our move to Ellon in 2013, and has been whirring away ever since. For some time we have wanted its hard work officially acknowledged, so we are hugely excited to be registered with the Vegan Society, and from now on BrewDog beers will carry that instantly-recognisable logo on the reverse of our labels.

There are a small handful of exceptions – our beers that contain milk (such as Jet Black Heart) and those that contain honey (Dogma, Electric India). But the vast majority of our beers are – and always have been – suitable for those who are vegan, and we are proud that BrewDog beers are now officially documented as such. Just look for the symbol!