If you’re eating a vegan diet, there are already plenty of ingredients you’re keeping off your plate. One you generally don’t think about, though? Alcohol. But heads up: Your favorite beverages might not be as cruelty-free as you think.
Non-Vegan Alcohol to Avoid
Many different alcohol varieties contain albumin (which comes from egg whites), dairy, casein (a protein found in milk), gelatin (from animal bones and tissue), chitin (shells of lobster and crabs), honey, and isinglass (from dried fish swim bladders). Since not all companies will provide the full ingredients list, it can be hard to know what’s okay to sip and what’s not.
Here are some common types of alcohol to check into before drinking:
- Beer: Some brands contain milk, honey, or isinglass.
- Cider: Some brands use gelatin.
- Wine: Some brands are filtered through “fining agents,” which can include everything from blood and bone marrow to gelatin.
- Hard Liquor: Some brands contain dairy and honey, but most are vegan.
To be safe, check specific brands on Barnivore to see if they’re vegan or not.
Vegan Alcohol You Can Drink Up
Typically any hard liquor is vegan (hooray!), and there are also numerous wine and beer brands that make it clear they don’t use animal products either. Here’s a list of the most popular ones to get you started.
Wine:
- Yellowtail
- Red Truck Wines
- Benefit Wines
- Blossom Hill
- The Vegan Vine
- Frey Vineyards
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Vegan Truck Wines
- Palmina Wines
Beer:
Note: A few of these brands contain honey-flavored beers, and those are the only kinds that aren’t vegan.
- Bud Light
- Budweiser
- Keystone Light
- Coors Light
- Heineken
- Pabst Blue Ribbon
- Keystone Light
- Miller Lite
- Stella Artois
- Sam Adams
- Busch
- Yuengling
- Corona Extra
- Blue Moon
Hard Liquor:
Note: Basically all hard liquor—vodka, rum, whiskey, bourbon, and gin—is vegan except for cream-based or honey-flavored varieties.
- Absolut Vodka
- Don Julio Tequila
- Aviation American Gin
- Amaretto
- Grey Goose Vodka
- Bastille 1789 Whisky
- Maker’s Mark
- Tanqueray Gin
- St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
- Crystal Head Vodka
- Kahlúa Liqueur
- Few Rye Whiskey
So, what are you waiting for? Cheers!