Guinness switch to vegan in 2016, changes recipe for first time in 256 years

Guinness won’t be hard to swallow for vegan beer lovers anymore.

The iconic Irish brewer is changing the way it makes the creamy stout. Starting next year, the company will stop using fish bladder parts — no, seriously — to purify its beer. It’s the first time the recipe has changed in its 256-year history.

Guinness, like many other breweries, uses isinglass, a gelatin made from the bladders of fish used to remove yeast from the beer — acting as a filter to clarify beer. Some traces of isinglass remain in the finished brew, but most of it is filtered out after fermentation and doesn’t have an effect on taste.

Vegans have long been petitioning the Dublin stout’s use of an animal product with several online campaigns. Its other ingredients include barley, hops, yeast and water. Guinness has not yet revealed an alternative to isinglass.

Pea extract can make suitable alternatives to isinglass, according to a study in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing. The study indicated that when pea protein was added to a commercial lager, it performed well in comparison to beer with fish bladders. Another alternative is BioFine, a clarifying solution of colloidal silicon dioxide, a compound that helps remove yeast.

Guinness and other breweries are not required to state the use of isinglass on the bottle.