Corvedale celebrating listing for ‘veggies’
A south Shropshire brewer has been told he may be the only brewer in the West Midlands who produces beer suitable for vegans and vegetarians.
Beers brewed by Norman Pearce at the Sun Inn in Corfton qualify as vegan and vegetarian-friendly because he doesn’t use finings, or ingredients from fish swim bladders in the brewing process of his beers.
Finings, which are made using the swim bladders of tropical fish, are used by a lot of brewers
to help their products go clear.
Mr Pearce said: “It’s slowly coming to light that we may be one of the few places in the area doing beers for vegans and vegetarians. “We don’t use finings because we use a different system to most people who do bottling. Our beers go clear naturally.” He added that the brewery was now looking at making it a unique selling point for its products. He said: “Now we are actually going to start pushing it that we are vegetarian friendly.”
The Sun Inn has been the only pub in the county listed on the website www.vegetarianvistor.co.uk, which lists premises that cater for vegetarians and vegans.
Listed
But just before Christmas, they had one customer who had come all the way from Abergavenny who told them they were one of the few places he could find to have a beer. Mr Pearce said: “We’ve been listed on the site for ages, but it’s only now that people are starting to ask. “We’ve always kept at least one vegetarian beer available on tap at the bar as well as our bottled beers.
“There are probably others who do similar, but I’m not aware of any.” Su Taylor, of the UK Vegetarian Society, said: “The problem with beer is that the finings used in the clearing process of brewing are usually a form of gelatine that comes from the swim bladders of these fish.”
She added: “If another company is finding an alternative process then that’s great.
“We’re always on the look out for new products, so it’s good to know there are manufacturers
out there supporting veggies.”
By Hannah Costigan
Taken from Shropshire Star
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