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Cambridge & District CAMRA

Veggie Beers for Veggie Week

Celebrating National Vegetarian Week with Vegetarian Beer

24th to 30th May


Vegetarian real ales, both in cask and bottles, are becoming increasingly popular with consumers and as a result more brewers are producing this style of beer. There are now a number of breweries producing a huge range of vegetarian real ales that offer a variety of different tastes.

As part of National Vegetarian Week, CAMRA is promoting vegetarian beers with vegetarian food.

What are Vegetarian beers?

Vegetarian beers do not use fish-based finings to clear the beer.

Finings were first used by brewers in the 18th century to clarify beer when people started to drink beer from glasses rather than pewter or leather tankards. Finings were originally made from the swim bladder of sturgeon which were dried and then dissolved in phosphoric acid. The viscous white liquid produced is added to a cask of beer and the action of the finings attracts the fine yeast particles suspended in the beer till they are large enough to sink, under the influence of gravity, to the bottom of the cask and thus clarify the beer.

Today, whilst keg beers are filtered, pasteurised and gassed up at the brewery, real ale is put into the cask with yeast remaining, so that there can be a secondary fermentation in the cask. Real ale is clarified using finings. Today the chief source of finings are from fish caught 10° either side of the equator - species such as catfish, drumfish and threadfins.

Whilst the finings are not imbibed when beer is drunk, many vegetarians prefer to avoid most beers. Several breweries do produce and supply their real ales in a fining-free form. They may have a slight haze on them but they are perfectly acceptable to drink.

Beer with food

CAMRA have matched some vegetarian beers to recipes that the Vegetarian Society have suggested for National Vegetarian Week.

Artichoke and Sunblush Tomato Tarts can be accompanied by a number of floral-style ales which go well with summer foods. Lagonda IPA from Marble Brewery in Manchester described in the Good Beer Guide as "a classic pale ale, immense citrus and floral hop notes balanced against a dry bitter finish," or Porter Brewery's Floral Dance which is "pale and fruity" both fit the bill!

Zerodegrees of London brews a fantastic beer called Pale Ale which goes well with Mediterranean Tian; it is described as "a dry, hoppy beer with malt notes initially and then a bitterness that lingers. Becomes sweeter on warming."

To finish your meal, you need to choose a beer that tastes great with puddings and desserts and really accentuates their sweet flavours. Caramel Banana Berry Brioche is a gourmet choice by the Vegetarian Society which can be accompanied by Townes' Pynot Porter available in bottles. Its bitter coffee and chocolate notes goes well with sweet dishes.

"Real ale goes equally well with full-flavoured foods such as Tortilla Beany Bake, although you need to select a smooth and full-bodied beer so that its taste is not overwhelmed by the food. For this particular dish I would select a beer with a lot of taste and flavour such as Marble's Uncut Amber or Rossendale Ale from Porter Brewery" says CAMRA's Louise Ashworth.

"Many of the beers I have mentioned are brewed by breweries which are completely vegetarian, and vegetarian real ale makes an excellent accompaniment to food. Why not try it for a change in place of wine? There are some great tastes and flavours in real ale which you can enjoy at your dining table as well as in your local pub."

Further details of all the beers can be found in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide and Good Bottled Beer Guide, which can be bought via the CAMRA web site.

Locally

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Bacchanalia (formerly the Jug & Firkin) on Mill Road, Cambridge, stocks vegetarian bottled beers.


Cambridge & District CAMRA