How to drink vegan: wines, beers and spirits

Who knew that alcoholic drinks aren’t all vegan friendly? At first glance, it might not seem like beer, wine or spirits would include animal products, but if you follow a vegan diet, there are a few things to consider when choosing a drink. Cocktails aside, which might use ingredients like egg whites or even bacon, this isn’t about the actual ingredients – it’s to do with the filtering stage during production, which is the step that turns an alcoholic drink clear.   

So, how do you navigate the options when browsing your local Dan’s? We’re breaking it down here to help you find the most vegan-friendly beers, wine and spirits, plus offering up a few tips for next time you make cocktails for your plant-based mates. 

Wine is made from grapes, grapes are a fruit, so, ipso facto, wine is vegan – right? Not always. For any wine that gets filtered during its production process – which is the case for the vast majority – you need to be clued up if you’re sticking to a vegan diet. In many cases, although not all, a filtered wine may no longer be vegan-friendly. 

If a wine is unfiltered (a popular technique for natural wines), it can appear hazy or cloudy with sediment and other little floaty bits. This can affect a wine’s flavour and texture, as well as the colour and appearance. When filtering a wine, AKA fining, producers add an agent that binds to these tiny elements, which makes them easier to remove. This results in a crystal-clear wine, long regarded as one of the key markers of a quality drop for old world wines.   

Traditionally, the most common fining agents are animal products – things like egg whites, casein (which is a milk protein), gelatin, fish oil, the fish-bladder protein isinglass, and more. Strange, but true. There are, however, loads of vegan-friendly alternatives to use in this process, such as clay, charcoal and limestone, that all do the same job of clarifying a wine.

If you’re seeking vegan-friendly wines, be sure to tick the “vegan-friendly” option on the Dan Murphy’s site – it comes up with hundreds of wines. And when browsing in store, check the bottle’s back label; producers are required by law to state if eggs or milk products are used in production because these are common allergens, but be aware they’re not required to say if they’ve used isinglass. However, with more wineries consciously making vegan wine, the safest bet is to look for ‘vegan-friendly wine’ on the label. Alternatively, you could explore unfiltered wines, with many of these styles falling into the natural, lo-fi wine set.  

Vegan wines to try: Yalumba Y Series Riesling, Serafino Orenji Project McLaren Vale White Blend and Rewild Shiraz. 

It’s a similar story for beer – it all comes down to the filtering process. With beer brewed from water, hops, yeast and malt, it is essentially a vegan product. But to end up with those much-loved crisp, clear brews, many producers put their beer through a fining process, just like wine. Brewers also often work with animal-based products, making these beers not so vegan friendly.

The bits remaining in an unfiltered beer include yeast, sediment and some microorganisms. While there are much-loved beer styles that don’t get filtered – wheat beers and many hazy IPAs included – the majority of brews are fined, with that hallmark golden clarity the end goal. Traditional fining agents for beer include isinglass, gelatin, casein, lactose and more, but, increasingly, vegan-friendly alternatives are being used. Powdered seaweed is just one example.

This isn’t always called out on beer packaging, so it’s worth researching your favourite brewers. Chatting to staff at your local brewpub or brewery is also a good idea. You’ll also want to steer away from styles like milk stouts, which are brewed with lactose. When you click on the “Vegan Friendly” filter option for beers on the Dan’s site, loads of brews come up, so there’s a heap of choice. And if you’re into seltzers, take your pick – these are very vegan-friendly drinks.  

Vegan beers to try: Young Henrys Newtowner Australian Pale Ale, Sapporo Premium Lager and Coopers Best Extra Stout. 

Good news – spirits are a lot easier to navigate if you’re vegan. Almost all distilled spirits get the vegan tick of approval because they don’t go through the same filtering process as wine and beer. The exceptions here are spirits brewed with honey (this will often, but not always, be included in the name) and cream liqueurs, although even Baileys now has a dairy-free option. Always check the bottle’s label to be sure, but, ultimately, spirits make a happy hunting ground for anyone avoiding animal products.  

Spirits to avoid if you’re vegan: Stay away from dairy-based products like Baileys Irish Cream, spirits brewed with honey, such as Wild Turkey American Honey, and egg-based liqueurs, including Advocaat.

For anyone keen to whip up a vegan-friendly cocktail, the choices are endless. There aren’t too many recipes to rule out here; even the most traditional non-vegan classics are in the running, thanks to some savvy subs. The iconic Whiskey Sour and other frothy favourites like the Amaretto Sour rely on egg white for their distinctive texture, but you can easily switch this out for aquafaba – the juice from a can of chickpeas, believe it or not – or vegan products like Wonderfoam. You get the same decadent result without the animal product. 

And while there are plenty of cream-based cocktails – the Toblerone and Grasshopper among them – using a dairy-free milk or cream alt will often bring similar results. If you love a creamy style of cocktail, it can also be worth sticking to recipes showcasing coconut milk or coconut cream. These include the Frozen Coconut Daiquiri, which is not just vegan but will also make you feel like you’re on a beachside holiday, so that’s a win-win.  

Take a look through our growing collection of cocktail recipes, which you can filter by key spirit, flavour profile and more. And we’re all about trial and experimentation when making cocktails, so go right ahead and swap any non-vegan inclusions with your favourite plant-free alternatives, and there’s a good chance you’ll hit on a new staple. 

Vegan cocktails to try: The Rocket Gimlet champions the underrated leaf, the Tomatini has tomatoes at its core, and the Tokyo Sour is tangy, spicy refresher.