Mackeson is Not Vegan Friendly

Company email (October 2022)
"The Belgian beer 'Leffe Nectar' (not listed on Barnivore yet) is vegan. No anial (by)products are used during the production and filtration process. This includes honey and honey derivatives."

Company email (October 2017) re Brahma:
"Informamos que o produto não contém nenhum traço de substâncias que contenham origem animal."

[Google translation: "Please be advised that the product does not contain any trace of substances containing animal origin."]

Company email (June 2016):
"Our beers are 100% vegan proof. The composition is similar for all the countries of distribution."

Company email (August 2013): [regarding Belle-vue Kriek, Belle-Vue Framboise, Belle-Vue Gueuze]
"Les produits de Inbev ne contiennent pas d'ingrédients d'origine animale."

[Google translation] "Inbev products contain no animal ingredients."

Company email (May 2013):
"As we are not using any animal derived products or ingredients in our beer we believe that the Hoegaarden beers are actually suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Moreover Hoegaarden beer is not filtered, in this way most of the proteins in beer are conserved and no filtration aid need to be used. All our products are produced under the authority of Ab-Inbev and we strictly watch the brewing process. So we can assure a Hoegaarden contains the same in Belgium as it does in the US."

Company email (April 2013):
"All of our beers, including Stella Artois, are brewed around the world using water, yeast, barley malt, hops and select cereal grains (such as rice, corn, or sorghum). None of our beers or other products contain any animal ingredients (such as milk, eggs, etc), or process aids such as isinglass or gelatin.

Occasionally we will brew a honey beer, which uses real, all-natural honey. At this time, we have not applied for certification from any organizations, although we are confident our beers would qualify.

Stella Artois, brewed and bottled in Europe, is a European Pale Lager, with a pleasantly bitter taste and a refreshing finish. Brewed with traditional malted barley, non-malted grain, and European hops, its drinkability creates a unique taste differentiation versus other European Lagers. She is a thing of beauty."

We've had some conflicting reports on this one, with the "nays" tending to come from other booze lists online as opposed to from direct company contact. It's possible that the process differs by region for this one (the UK version of Stella may be different than the US, for example),
but we're waiting on confirmation.

Via InBev US (info@ab-inbev.com): dec 2010
"There are no animal products or derivates to be found in any of our beers."

Via InBev UK: July 2010
"The following AB-InBev beer brands sold in UK are suitable for vegans ( packaging is also vegan-friendly):
>
> Stella Artois
> Stella 4%
> Budweiser
> Beck's
> Beck's Vier
> Beck's Blue
> Brahma
> Staropramen
> Leffe"

Via InBev UK: June 2010
"The following AB-InBev beer brands sold in UK are suitable for vegans:
Stella Artois
Stella 4%
Budweiser
Beck's
Beck's Vier
Beck's Blue
Brahma
Staropramen
Leffe"

Angela got this from the Australia rep, where Stella is distributed by Fosters:
Stella is NOT vegan friendly when made in Australia.

Jessica got this from a North American rep, where Stella is distributed by Labatt:

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. You will be pleased to
hear that we do not use any animal products in our beer or the production of it. Thank you for your interest.

Nykle got the following information about Hoegaarden:
"The beer itself is vegan, it does not contain isinglass or gelatine. The labels are attached to the bottle with the following 'glue':
Eticol 700 and Eticol 419 : "casein-glues" = based on dairy-protein (= casein) and starch."

Mackeson on wikipedia:
Mackeson Stout is a dark sweet beer. It is one of the few surviving examples of an old southern English style of sweet stout also known as milk stout because it contains lactose, a sugar derived from milk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackeson_Stout