Gardner Ale House is Vegan Friendly
| Address: | 74 Parker St. Gardner, MA, 01440 USA |
| Phone: | 978-669-0122 |
| Fax: | 978-669-0097 |
| Email: | |
| URL: | http://www.gardnerale.com/ |
| Checked by: | Jason |
| Double checked by: | |
| Added: | almost 18 years ago |
Company email:
My name is Dave and I'm the brewer for the Gardner Ale House in Gardner, Massachusetts. We have a 7 bbl brewery here and serve beer on site only (no distributing), although we do fill half-gallon jugs to go.
The only ingredients we use here are natural and we don't use honey (although we have considered it). The ingredients that I have used up to this point are as follows: barley, hops, yeast, water, Irish moss, and unpasteurized apple cider.
We don't filter our beer at all. We use no isinglass, no gelatin, no bone char, etc. If you are wondering about Irish moss, it is all natural, made from seaweed. Irish moss "is a species of red algae (Chondrus crispus) which grows abundantly along the rocky parts of the Atlantic coast of Europe and North America". ( from Wikipedia) We use Irish moss as a kettle coagulant. Carageenan is the protein found in Irish moss which makes it useful to us brewers. Carageenan carries a net negative charge on its particle. Most of the proteins that leach out of the malted barley during the mashing process carry a net positive charge. Adding Irish moss in the boil (the sweet liquid, wort, is boiled for stability and hop utilization) causes the positively charged proteins to coagulate together around the negatively charged carageenan particles. This causes protein "clumps" to form which then have a much easier time falling to the bottom of the tank. So, you could call Irish moss an all natural way to help clarify beer. Every brewer I know uses it to some degree.
Anyway, we at the Gardner Ale House take pride that our beer is not only all natural, but unfiltered as well, leaving the beer as wholesome and fresh as could possibly be. Our beer might not always be perfectly clear as a result, but the flavor is unbeatable, and it is nice to know that we can call our beer vegan. I hope this helps your list. By the way, right now we have 6 of our own fresh house brews on tap: Facelift IPA, Oma's Altbier, Naked Stout, Snow Slaker Winter Lager, Summer's End Kolsch, and William Tell's Apple Ale. Cheers!!