Guinness to go vegan-friendly by changing its 256-year-old brewing process that uses animal bladders

It's time to go vegan for the famous Irish brewer, Guinness. The beverage company has decided to stop using the fish organ by-product in its age-old brewing process.

The makers of the dark, creamy and thick Irish beer has faced years of pressure from vegetarians before coming up with the decision. For 256 years, the company has been using isinglass to filter out the contaminants and impurities from its brew.

Isinglass is a collagen harvested from the swim bladders of fish. Although a small amount of isinglass is used to filter out the impurities, Guinness was not considered as a vegetarian product.

The TIME reports that Guinness will now have a new filtration process in place that will eventually eliminate the need of using isinglass. The new system is expected to become functional in 2016. A spokesperson for the owner of Guinness confirms that the brewers and engineers from St. James’ Gate are working in close collaboration to create a state-of-the-art filtration system that will enable the company to label its product as suitable for vegetarians.

The New York Post reports that the new filtration process will not change the recipe of the product. Therefore, beer lovers should not be afraid of the notion that the taste the beer would change after the new process is in place. So far, the company has released no new information on how they are planning to replace isinglass in the brewing process.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au, or let us know what you think below.