Guinness Stout and animal fat

[Ether_Dragon]

A freind recently posed the following question to me:

"Guinness, everyone’s favorite beer, began many years ago, as we all know. Also, as some may be aware, this drink is not Vegan, as it is strained through animal fat as part of the brewing process.

So the rumor, which is even the subject of a song called “Good Rats” by the Dropkick Murphys and Shane McGowan [of the Pogues] says that once upon a time during the origins of Guinness, dead rats were found in the brewing vats. Apparently, the rats had developed a taste for Guinness, but had become too intoxicated and died in the vats. The owners found the rats, removed them, and stepped up the sanitation methods to insure this wouldn’t happen again. However, after this, people began complaining about the taste of the guinness, thus why the animal fat was introduced, to recapture that flavor.

Is this urban legend, or is this fact?"

While this spanks of urban legend, I’m looking for something definitive I can use to debunk the whole thing. Anyone care to help me out? Thanks in advance. =)

[UrbanChic]

I just wanted to chime in and say I’m very interested in the answer. I love GES!

[Spoons]

I’ve never heard that Guinness is “strained through animal fat” as part of the brewing process, though stranger things have been said. Still, I was able to find this site, which is all about Guinness.

In addition to being interesting for more than just the original question, the site explains what ingredients make up Guinness (no animal fat mentioned) and the process (no straining through animal fat mentioned), so I would guess that your friend’s assertion is an urban legend or an attempt on somebody else’s part at rumormongering.

I did notice on their FAQ page that there have been questions about what Guinness puts in their beer. Specifically, this caught my eye:

Q: Someone told me that Guinness intentionally added sour Guinness to their beers. Is that true?

A: Yes, part of the process is to blend in some specially soured Guinness. The following was extracted from the Homebrew Digest. I believe the original author was Martin Lodahl, but I may be mistaken: “…they have a series of huge oaken tuns dating back to the days before Arthur Guinness bought the brewery, which they still use as fermentors for a fraction of the beer. The tuns have an endemic population of Brettanomyces, lactic acid bacteria and Lord knows what else, and beer fermented in it sours emphatically. They pasteurize this and blend small quantities of it with beer fermented in more modern vessels.”

It seems to me that it would be the addition of sour beer made in old barrels that allows for your friend’s knowledge of an additional step in the process, Ether Dragon. I would also imagine that the “Lord knows what else” phrase is referring mainly to the various kinds of bacteria that inhabit the barrels, rather than any animal product. Bacteria love beer.

Sorry I couldn’t find a definite debunking, but I hope this helps.

[yojimbo]

I found lots of “Vegans shouldn’t drink Guinness” in sites but from http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/vegan/frame.htm

‘Real ales’ may be popular with the punters, but they are invariably unsuitable for strict vegetarians. The problem is in the methods used to clear traditional, cask conditioned beers. Isinglass - a gelatine-like substance taken from the bladder and intestine of fish - is added to hurry along the process. According to The Vegan Society, it is also used routinely in many other beers, including all those produced by leading brewers, Guinness, Bass and Newcastle Brown.

No news of rats yet.

[Ether_Dragon]

I found the same resources you guys mentioned as well. I also checked into one of the bands just for added credibility. Dropkick Murphy did in fact have a song called “Good Rats” on their first album. The song is about a Guinness brewery rat infestation. I didn’t bother to check the Pogues link, since neither band can really offer anything reliable one way or another. Unless someone official once to directly comment on the story, I’m going to take what we found and call it good. Given that Guinness does a good job of listing their ingredients and brewing process, and the Vegans aren’t outraged at the use of anything other than fish, I say the story is a hoax. Thanks for all your help. =)