Heineken has some vegan options

Address: Tweede Weteringplantsoen 21
1017 ZD Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
URL: http://www.heineken.com/
Checked by: Damian, Sami
Double checked by: Rick, Bilby, Karoliina, Meic, Michael, Richard, Bones, Jonathan, Michael, Andrew, Demy, Debbie, Sjoerd, Alex, Ryan, James, Dean, Jay, Alex, Caleb, Steve, Hayden, Laura, Bilal, Edgar, Rachel, Luis, John, Justin, Andrew, Justin, Todd
Added: over 18 years ago
Double Checked: almost 1 year ago

Products by Heineken:

Note from Luis:
"Heineken sponsors rodeos and events of this kind."

Company email (February 2024)
"Carlsberg Marstons own the brand of Kronenbourg 1664, from October 2023 all beer for draft has been brewed by CMBC.
From March 2024 CMBC will be brewing all 1664 for the UK market. You should be able to identify Heineken and CMBC production as this is stated on the cans/bottles.
I am pleased to inform you that Kronenbourg 1664 is free from any animal derived ingredients. Kronenbourg 1664 not yet live on the shelves from Carlsberg."

Company website (December 2023) re: Cruzcampo
"https://uk.cruzcampo.com/nutritional-value"
"Unfortunately Cruzcampo is not suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Whilst Cruzcampo itself contains nothing that would make it unsuitable, other beers produced in the same brewery do, which makes it impossible to ensure there are no trace elements."

Company email (December 2023) re: Birra Moretti 0.0
"Birra Moretti 0.0 is also suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans as well as Heineken 0.0."

Company email (July 2023) re: UK Cruzcampo
"I have checked and can confirm this product is not vegan."

Company email (May 2023) re: Tropical Cider
"Yes Strongbow Tropical is suitable for vegetarians and vegans."

Company email (January 2023) re:Kronenbourg
"Unfortunately Kronenbourg is not suitable for Vegans."

Company FAQ (January 2022) re: Inch's Cider
https://www.inchscider.co.uk/faqs
"All ingredients used in the production of Inch's cider are vegan."

Company email (oct 2021)
"We can confirm that Woodpecker Cider is suitable for vegans and vegetarians. No Isinglass is used in the production."

Company email (April 2021)

"We can confirm that Newcastle Brown Ale is suitable for vegan and vegetarians."

Company update regarding dogfighting rumours: http://www.theheinekencompany.com/images-of-dog-fighting-circulating-on-the-internet

Company email (April 2020)

"Wij willen u informeren dat Heineken 0.0 dat is gebrouwen in Nederland veganistisch is."

[Translation: "We would like to inform you that Heineken 0.0 brewed in the Netherlands is vegan."]

Hayden notes (January 2020) that the labels for Heineken 0.0 show they have cholesterol in them, which is normally a sign of animal ingredients, though it conflicts with the info on the Heineken website. We've received no response from the brewery when we followed up, so marking it as red [Update: all clear, see April 2020 above.]

Company email (November 2019)

"All our ciders except for Woodpecker is suitable for vegans."

Company email (November 2019)

"The following are suitable for vegetarians & vegans:
Amstel, Birra Moretti, Birra Moretti zero, Desperados, Heineken, Heineken 0.0, Newcastle Brown Ale, Red Stripe, Sagres, Sol, Tiger, Zywiec"

[Leaving Amstel as red on its own page because their website still says it's not suitable for vegans]

Company email (November 2019) re Newcastle in the UK
"I can confirm Newcastle Brown Ale is suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

"All brewing methods are the same and there is no change to the liquid
whether it be can, bottle or draught."

Company email (July 2019) re the American version of Newcastle:

"Yes! The new brew is fully vegan."

Company email (March 2019)
"Newcastle Brown Ale is not suitable for vegans as this is clarified with isinglass, which is fish derived." [this came from Heineken UK, so we going with the understanding that this backs up the Feb 2019 and Oct 2018 responses]

Company email (February 2019)
"Newcastle Brown Ale brewed and available in the UK is not suitable for vegans."

Company email (October 2018)
"All of our products are vegan, including our Newcastle Brown Ale. We do not use isinglass in any of our products."

Company email (April 2018)
"We are happy to inform you that all of our beers... are suitable for vegans. We do not use any animal materials or materials derived from animals in our products or during production."

Company email (April 2018) re Ladrón de Manzanas:
"Le adjunto la ficha de producto de la sidra, para su información y buen uso, como ve es apta para veganos."

[Google translation: "I enclose the cider product sheet, for your information and good use, as you see it is suitable for vegans."]

Company email (March 2018)
"Wij kunnen je informeren dat Heineken 0.0 vegan is"

[Google translation: "We can inform you that Heineken 0.0 is vegan"]

Company email (April 2017) regarding Pelforth

"Nos produits ne contiennent pas d'ingrédients d'origine animale et nous n'utilisons pas de "procédés de collage" d'origine animale également. Toutes les colles utilisées sur les emballages de nos différentes marques ne contiennent pas de caséine, elles sont d'origine synthétique aussi bien pour l'éttiquettes en papier qu celles en plastique."

[Google translation: "Our products do not contain ingredients of animal origin and we do not use "bonding processes" of animal origin as well. All the adhesives used on packaging of our different brands do not contain casein, they are of synthetic origin as well for the labels of paper as those of plastic."]

Company email (November 2015):
"Symonds Founders Reserve does not contain any isinglass, gelatine or cochineal. It is only at risk of carryover from other products that do."

Company email (September 2015) re: Netherlands
"Producten die in Nederland geproduceerd zijn, zijn veganistisch. Voor producten die in het buitenland geproduceerd zijn, kunnen we deze garantie niet geven; dit omdat wij de gebruikte lijm voor de etiketten niet voorschrijven. Inhoudelijk is het product dan identiek, maar het zou kunnen zijn dat de etiketten dan met beenderlijm of iets soortgelijks op de flessen worden geplakt. Wij kunnen daarom geen uitspraken doen over buitenlandse brouwerijen."

[Googel translation: "Products that are produced in the Netherlands are vegan. For products produced abroad, we can not give this guarantee ; this because we do not require the adhesive used for the labels. The content of the product than identical, but it could be that the labels than with bone glue or the like to be stuck on the bottles. We can therefore not comment on foreign brewers."]

Note from Elder (January 2014):
Crab leg commercial: http://youtu.be/O_25H_FDGXE

Company email regarding sugar (June 2013):
"For the production of Heineken and Heineken Dark Lager only barley malt, hops and water are being used as raw materials. There are no sugars or syrups added. The yeast ferments all fermentable sugars formed from the starch from the malted barley. In the brewing process, all starch is converted into glucose, fructose, maltose and maltotriose, which are fermentable sugars. These are converted during fermentation into alcohol and CO2."

Company email (March 2013): [to Heineken UK]
"John Smiths all, Newcastle Brown Ale, Kronenbourg, Foster's, Caledonian Beers and Theakston's are not suitable vegetarians.

Heineken, Sol, Dos Equis, Amstel (small pack only), Zywiec, Sagres, Desperados and Moretti (small pack only ) are suitable for vegetarians.

Tiger small pack and keg in UK, Amstel Keg in UK and Moretti Keg in UK are not brewed using animal derived products however there is a possibility of carryover from some of our beers that do, therefore we do not claim that they are vegetarian.

We do not claim that any of our Ciders are Vegetarian."

Q: "Could I trouble you further to elaborate on “small pack only” and the reference to “carryover”?"

A: "Small pack means packaged product not draught and carryover just means that there is a possibility of contact with other beers"

Note from Michael: "Responses from Heineken UK to my query, which is not entirely consistent with a previous response. They previously stated that all Amstel was o.k., but the caveat regarding “carryover” sounds like that published on the ingredients lists of vegan foods here, i.e. “may contain......”, which the Vegan Society finds acceptable on the basis of allergy awareness according to EU rules on labelling."

Company email (November 2012): [in regard to Woodpecker Cider in the UK]
"I can confirm we do not use finings or any animal products such as gelatine for filtration of cider. However, we do not claim that any of our ciders are vegetarian/vegan as although the majority of our ciders do not have any animal derived ingredients there is a possibility of carryover from some of our ciders that do."
[Can I ask how the possibility of carryover of animal derived ingredients from one cider to another occurs?]
"The natural dye cochineal is used in some of our ciders including Woodpecker, the reason we advise that none of our ciders are suitable for vegans/vegetarians is that due to the shared production environment we can not guarantee that there will not be some carryover."

Company email(October 2012): [in regard to Scrumpy Jack Cider (a Symonds Cider)]
"basically we do not state that any of our ciders are suitable for vegans/vegetarians as although the majority of our ciders do not have any animal derived ingredients there is a possibility of carryover from some of our ciders that do."

Company email (April 2012):
"We don't use finings or any animal products such as gelatin for filtration of cider or for juice produced by ourselves or our suppliers.

Some of our ciders use Cochineal. While the majority of our ciders do not use Cochineal as they are produced in the same site as some of our ciders that do and they share processes and equipment (i.e. carryover), therefore we do not claim that any of our ciders are vegetarian."

[Ciders using cochineal]: "at present it is only Bulmers Original."

Company email from Heineken UK, Oct 2011:

"I can however confirm that Heineken and Amstel are suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans."

Company Email (Marietta.Julio@heineken.com) regarding Heineken Amsterdam: April 2011
"Our beer can be referred to as vegan. All ingredients are natural and from
plant sources. No materials of animal sources are used. We don't use products of animal origin in the refining and filrating
process. All our beer is filtered through kieselguhr filters (the calciferous
skeletons of diatoms). When we first received questions from our vegan
consumers, this lead us to investigate: is a diatom a single cell animal or
is it a plant? The American dictionary of biology says : Diatoms contain chlorophyll and are photosyntetic. In older classifications
they are identified as primitive plants. Because they are indeed plant-like in many respects, it is still common practice to use the term "plant".
(Biological Science; Keeton; 3rd ed. (page 14))
According to this description of the diatom, we can conclude that the cell is considered as a plant.
This makes it possible for us to call our beer vegan."

Note from Karoliina (jan 2011)
"I contacted Desperados ( a tequila flavored beer) originated from france, and as I had to contact the french page, as the english one didn't seem to have a working e-mail this is the response I got from them, and they say that desperados does not contain any animal based product in the beer. as the beer is under the heineken group i can well believe that it might be vegan too then :)"

Company Email: (Jan 2011)
"Nos produits ne contiennent aucun ingrédient d'origine animale."

Company email: Jan 2010
Thank you for your recent email message. We appreciate you taking time to contact us regarding our company and our products. There are no animal products used in the beer as ingredients, nor are they used in the filtration process. Heineken can be considered Vegan friendly."

Email 2:
Thank you for your recent email message. We appreciate you taking time to contact us regarding our company and our products. There are no animal products used in the beer as ingredients, nor are they used in the filtration process. Heineken can be considered Vegan friendly.

Company Email:
"Additionally, the following foreign are produced under licence by LNA (Australia & New Zealand):
Heineken."

Email regarding the UK:

"I can however confirm that Heineken and Amstel are suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans. "