My World Has Been Destroyed!
1/11/2006
"Why shouldn't I have a purely vegetarian drink? Why shouldn't I take vegetables in their highest form, so to speak? The modest vegetarians ought to stick to wine or beer, plain vegetable drinks, instead of filling their goblets with the blood of bulls and elephants, as all conventional meat-eaters do, I suppose"--Dalroy.I should just give up. Life has become unbearable now that I've discovered that my favorite 'stand-by' Ale, Newcastle Brown, is not suitable for vegetarians. Read this letter (look in the middle of the page).
The Vegetarian Beers page has completely destroyed my world! Not only is Newcastle Brown not sutable, but also Guinness, Bass, Boddingtons, McEwan's, Courage. All of my favorites. This is a sad, depressing day for this beer connoisseur.
At least Harp is suitable. And Kingfisher is pretty good with a plate of curry. And thanks to my old friend Johnny, I'm a fan of Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss as well, and it's safe. It's also good to know that all those cubes of piss-water (Natural Light) we inhaled as college brats were completely suitable for vegetarians. While we were busy being drunken bastards, raising a ruckus, being rude and proud and unusually kind to just about every female that walked by, we were at least drinking ethically.
See, what makes them non-veg is usually an 'ingredient' called isinglass finings (a solution of collagen prepared from fish). From the Scottish & Newcastle letter on said page:
Isinglass finings have been used to clarify beers for centuries. The collagen associates with yeast cells and causes the yeast to drop to the bottom of the tank of cask. The sediment remains behind and is not part of the finished product. No suitable substitute has been found, which is why nearly all breweries still use them.Yes, my carnivore friends, this still means that they are not vegetarian.
Fortunately or unfortunately (haven't decided yet), Old Peculiar isn't on the list at all. Neither is Strongbow Cider, probably my favorite that I've tried so far. I will have to ask the author of said page to add them to his list and see if he can gracefully discover the truth. I'm afraid I would be too emotional about it, LOL.
Weird Fact: Who knew that Weight Watchers had their own brand of wine? Weight Watchers Riesling? WTF?!
We shall finish this shocking post with a wonderful poem by G.K Chesterton titled "The Logical Vegetarian." Here's a stanza:
No more the milk of cows
Shall pollute my private house
Than the milk of the wild mares of the Barbarian
I will stick to port and sherry,
For they are so very, very,
So very, very, very, Vegetarian.
posted by Edward Svengali @ Wednesday, January 11, 2006,
