Brewing politically correct beers

In case you did not know, 1 November 2015 was World Vegan Day and media took the opportunity to report that the Irish brewer Guinness is changing the way it produces its eponymous stout by eliminating fish bladders, thus making it acceptable to vegetarian and vegan consumers.

Specifically, Guinness plans to swap isinglass, made from fish bladders and used to filter yeast particles from the finished product, with an animal-free method next year.

“Isinglass has been used widely within the brewing industry as a means of filtration for decades,” the company said in a statement. “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 beer’s listed ingredients make it sound herbivorous. But traces of isinglass can still end up in the finished product.

The company did not give details about how it will replace isinglass. Guinness beer is brewed at locations in 49 countries, however, the new filtration method will only be implemented at its flagship brewery in Ireland.

Diageo, the parent of Guinness, hopes that by introducing a vegetarian-friendly product it can fight back competition from craft beer, which has put pressure on the Big Brewers. Diageo cited microbrewery competition as a reason Guinness’s draught sales weakened in 2015.

Popular canned beers, including most brands by Anheuser-Busch, Heineken and MillerCoors, have been touted as vegetarian friendly by Barnivore.com, which tracks animal ingredients in alcohol.

Not to be outdone, on 6 November 2015, which celebrates the UN’s International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, Scottish anarcho-brewer BrewDog launched the world’s first transgender beer, brewed from hermaphrodite hops.

For the life of me, I could not say how the two are related, but in any case, this uber-PC beer, called No Label, will be a must-beer for all who have campaigned for the gender neutral honorific ’Mx’ (usually pronounced “mix”) to be included alongside Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss, to represent transgender people. In the UK, the honorific already appears on government forms and is used by many banks.

So here comes the Mx beer. Never tardy when it comes to raising our awareness that drinking beer is as much a personal enjoyment as a political statement, BrewDog’s new beer is described as a “Kolsch”, which BrewDog considers neither strictly a lager nor an ale. More importantly, it is made with Jester hops, which are naturally prone to change sex.

Traditionally, only female hop plants are used in brewing, with male hop bines discarded because the flowers do not grow into the full cones usually required. But BrewDog found a hop farmer to provide them with bines that had undergone this change and grown male flowers.

James Watt, one of BrewDog’s co-founders, said: “No Label is a new level of innovation in beer, smashing stereotypes surrounding the brewing process and using hops discarded by the brewing industry due to their gender issues.”

“Producing this non-binary, post-gender beer has been a long and careful process and we’re sure that many so-called beer purists will question its legitimacy; but we care more about freedom than labels. Diversity makes everyone and everything richer.”

Profits from the non-binary beer will go to LGBT events organisation Queerest of the Queer which aims to celebrate the diversity and talent of LGBT Londoners.