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The Shocking Ingredients In Beer

 

I have to confess, I’m not a beer drinker, but there’s someone in my household that loves it, so I had to figure out the truth. Is beer really healthy? Why are the ingredients not listed on the label? Which brands can we trust? Which brands are trying to slowly poison us with cheap and harmful ingredients? All of these questions were going through my head at once at lightning speed. So a year ago, I started to research what was really in beer and after questioning several beer companies, reading books about food science, and talking to experts, the information I discovered was downright shocking.

I see it all the time. Someone who eats organic, makes the right choices at the grocery store, is fit and lives an extraordinarily healthy lifestyle but then drinks beer like it is going out of style.

Caring about what you eat doesn’t necessarily translate into caring about what you drink and this is a HUGE MISTAKE.

Before we get into what exactly is in beer that you should be worried about, let’s talk about how body reacts to alcohol in general.

Alcohol is metabolized by the body differently than all other calories you consume. Alcohol is one of the only substances that you consume that can permeate your digestive system and go straight into your bloodstream. It bypasses normal digestion and is absorbed into the body intact, where it goes straight into the liver.

Your liver is your main fat-burning organ. If you are trying to lose weight or even maintain your ideal weight, drinking alcohol is one of your worst enemies. The liver is going to metabolize alcohol first vs. the fat you want to get rid of – making weight loss even harder. Additionally, one of the primary functions of the liver is to remove environmental toxins from your body – if it is overtaxed with alcohol, the normal removal of these toxins becomes extremely diminished and can result in rapid aging, loss of libido, and other diseases.

The one thing that has gotten me before and I’m sure many of you – is the health marketing claims on alcohol products making drinking them seem like a good idea and an added “benefit” to your health. The low alcohol content of beer makes it appear as an innocuous beverage and something people throw back without even thinking about it. Who hasn’t seen those studies that say a beer a day is great for you (I want to ask who ever stops at just one beer?)?

 

So, inherently, alcohol by itself is not a healthy person’s best friend – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Beer, especially American beer, is made with all sorts of ingredients beyond the basic hops, malt and yeast. There are numerous other ingredients used to clarify, stabilize, preserve, enhance the color and flavor of beer.

When you drink beer, there is almost a 100% chance that you don’t know what you are drinking (unless you quizzed the beer companies like I did). The ingredients in beer are not required by law to be listed anywhere on the label and manufacturers have no legal obligation to disclose the ingredients. For regular beer, calorie levels and percent alcohol are optional and for light beer calories are mandatory but alcohol levels are optional.

Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, author of Appetite for Profit, and president of Eat Drink Politics told me the reason that beer companies don’t disclose ingredients is simple: they don’t have to.

“Ingredient labeling on food products and non-alcoholic beverages is required by the Food and Drug Administration. But a whole other federal agency regulates beer, and not very well. The Department of Treasury – the same folks who collect your taxes – oversees alcoholic beverages. That probably explains why we know more about what’s in a can of Coke than a can of Bud. You can also thank the alcohol industry, which has lobbied for years against efforts to require ingredient labeling.”

I figured if the beer companies aren’t required to tell us the exact list of ingredients, I needed to investigate this for myself and asked them the pointed questions until I got the truth.

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First of all, I was able to obtain a baseline list of “legal” additives allowed in beer from the book “Chemicals Additives in Beer” by the Center of Science and Public Interest. This list allowed me to ask specific questions about each beer I investigated. For example – beer sold here in America can contain several of the following ingredients:

  • Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) –  alcohol is already addictive with some people, but with MSG?! Holy smokes.

  • Propylene Glycol (an ingredient found in anti-freeze)

  • Calcium Disodium EDTA (made from formaldehyde, sodium cayanide, and Ethylenediamine)

  • Many different types of sulfites and anti-microbial preservatives (linked to allergies and asthma)

  • Natural Flavors (can come from anything natural including a beavers anal gland)

  • High Fructose Corn Syrup

  • GMO Sugars – Dextrose, Corn Syrup

  • Caramel Coloring (Class III or IV made from ammonia and classified as a carcinogen)

  • FD&C Blue 1 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)

  • FD&C Red 40 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)

  • FD&C Yellow 5 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)

  • Insect-Based Dyes: carmine derived from cochineal insects to color their beer.

  • Animal Based Clarifiers: Findings include isinglass (dried fish bladder), gelatin (from skin, connective tissue, and bones), and casein (found in milk)

  • Foam Control: Used for head retention; (glyceryl monostearate and pepsin are both potentially derived from animals)

  • BPA (Bisphenol A is a component in many can liners and it may leach into the beer. BPA can mimic the female hormone estrogen and may affect sperm count, and other organ functions.)

  • Carrageenan (linked to inflammation in digestive system, IBS and considered a carcinogen in some circumstances)

During my investigation, I couldn’t get a single mainstream beer company to share the full list of ingredients contained in their beer. But I did get some of them to fess up to the use of these ingredients in writing so I’m going to share this information with you now.

Carcinogenic Caramel Coloring

Newcastle, a UK brand, confessed to using what I would consider one of the most controversial food additives. Toasted barley is usually what gives beer its golden or deep brown color, however in this case, Newcastle beer is also colored artificially with caramel color. This caramel coloring is manufactured by heating ammonia and sulfites under high pressure, which creating carcinogenic compounds. If beer companies were required by law to list the ingredients, Newcastle would likely have to have a cancer warning label under California law because it is a carcinogen proven to cause liver tumors, lung tumors, and thyroid tumors in rats and mice.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Many of the beers I questioned contained one or more possible GMO ingredients.

  • High Fructose Corn Syrup (Guinness – unable to provide an affidavit for non-GMO proof)
  • Corn syrup (Miller Light, Coors, Corona, Fosters, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Red Stripe)
  • Dextrose (Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch Light, Michelob Ultra)
  • Corn (Red Stripe, Miller Coors Brand, Anheuser-Busch Brands)

Most beers brewed commercially are made with more GMO corn than barley. Many of the companies I contacted dodged the GMO question – however Miller Coors had a very forthcoming and honest response. They stated “Corn syrup gives beer a milder and lighter-bodied flavor” and “Corn syrups may be derived from a mixture of corn (conventional and biotech.)”, admitting their use of GMOs.

Slide2

Pabst Blue Ribbon responded saying their corn syrup was “special” and “made of carbohydrates and some simple sugars like dextrose and maltose.  The sugars are fermented into alcohol and CO2, and the carbohydrates, both from the corn syrup and the malt, remain in the beers as flavor, color and body components.”

Dextrose and maltose can come from a variety of substances that are sweet, but likely are derived from GMO corn because it is super cheap for a company to use corn instead of fruit or other non-GMO sources. With cheap beer – you are not just getting a cheap buzz, you are getting the worst of the worst.  Just like with cheap fast food – if you don’t invest in your beer – you will be drinking a lower quality product like Pabst Blue Ribbon that is made from GMO Corn and Corn Syrup.

In 2007, Greenpeace found unapproved and experimental GMO Rice strain in Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser, Bud Light) beer. Anheuser-Busch responded saying their US-grown long-grained rice “may have micro levels” of a genetically engineered protein called Liberty Link, but added that the protein is “substantially removed or destroyed” during the brewing of beer sold domestically. Don’t you think it’s hard to trust any beer company that gets caught using experimental food made in a laboratory? GMOs have not been tested long term on human beings and one of the main pesticides (Roundup) they spray on GMO crops are linked to inflammation, cancer and other diseases. 

Guinness

High Fructose Corn Syrup & Fish Bladders

Speaking of trusting companies, let’s get one thing straight, Guinness beer is no longer owned by the Irish, they are now owned by a large beer conglomerate called Diageo and manufactured in over 50 different countries. No matter how many St. Patty’s Day celebrations you’ve had with this dark stout, it’s time to stop because they use high fructose corn syrup in their beer (4/2/14 Update: Guinness Beer claims they do not use high fructose corn syrup any longer, but refuses to disclose ingredient affidavits or full of list of ingredients.) But, Guinness beer also contains isinglass, a gelatin-like substance produced from the swim bladder of a fish. This ingredient helps remove any “haziness,” solids, or yeast byproducts from the beer. Mmmmm… fish bladder sounds delicious, doesn’t? The sneaky thing this beer company does like many of the companies mentioned here today is create an illusion of using the best ingredients when in actuality what they tell you publicly on their websites is a complete farce. On Guinness FAQ’s – they have a question that states: “What are the key ingredients in Guinness” and the answer doesn’t reveal the whole picture – it only states “Our key ingredients – other than inspiration – are roasted, malted barley, hops, yeast and water.” What BS, right?  You have to call, email, question and know the right things to ask to even have a chance at getting the truth. This is insanity.

So What Beers Are Additive and GMO Free?

If you enjoy the occasional beer and wish to maintain your healthy lifestyle, choosing one without GMOs and additives is ideal. Unfortunately, most of the mainstream beers available have additives, but luckily, there are a few that don’t. For example, Sierra Nevada, Heineken, and Amstel Light (7/31/13 UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Heinken USA has changed their formula to use GMOs – I called their customer service line 1-914-681-4100 to confirm and asked for the list of ingredients – the man told me “water, yeast, malted barley and hops” – then I asked if their beer contained any genetically engineered material and he confirmed “YES,” but wouldn’t tell me what ingredients are genetically engineered. They recently changed their formula after my initial research that started in late 2012.) (8/1/13 Update: Heineken reached out to me personally to say their customer service department made an error in telling me and others who called their beer has GMOs. I met with a head brew master and have viewed affidavits from the company and confirmed Heinken and Amstel Light do not contain GMOs – they apologize for the confusion.) appear to be pretty clean (but these companies still wouldn’t disclose the full list of ingredients to me. They did say they use non-GMO grains, no artificial ingredients, stabilizers or preservatives).

German Beers are also a good bet. The Germans are very serious about the purity of their beers and enacted a purity law called “Reinheitsgebot” that requires all German beers to be only produced with a core ingredient list of water, hops, yeast, malted barley or wheat. Advocates of German beers insist that they taste cleaner and some even claim they don’t suffer from hangovers as a result.

An obvious choice to consider is also Certified Organic Beers. They are required by law to not include GMOs and other harmful additives. Organic beers also support environmental friendly practices and reduce the amount of pesticides and toxins in our air, support organic farmers – which is a huge plus. (To this day, the beer drinkers in my family haven’t found one they love so if you have suggestions, please let us know in the comments!)

Craft & Microbrews Beers – For certain local craft and micro beers, you can ask those companies for a list of ingredients and many of them will be up front with you. However, companies like Miller Coors are slowly closing in on craft beers and buying them up one by one… like they did when they created the unique popular variety called Blue Moon (the beer you drink with an orange) and Anhesuer-Busch did this with Rolling Rock and Goose Island Brewery. Make sure your favorite craft and microbrew is still independently owned and controlled before taking a sip.

In the end – if you decide to drink beer, you are definitely drinking at your own risk for more reasons than just the crazy ingredients that could be in them. The key point to remember is – if you like to drink beer and want to be healthy, drink it infrequently and quiz the beer companies for the truth. Find a beer that you can trust and stick with it.

For your reference, here are some important questions to ask your favorite beer company:

  1. What are the ingredients in your beer – all of them from start to finish?

  2. Are any of your ingredients GMO?

  3. Do you use any soy, corn, or rice processing ingredients? (Examples include: dextrose, corn syrup, etc.)

  4. Do you add any natural, artificial flavors or colors to the beer? (Examples include:  yellow #5, caramel coloring, red #40, MSG, natural flavors)

  5. Are there any additional preservatives, stabilizers and/or clarifying agents added to your beer during processing? (Examples include: propylene glycol, Calcium Disodium EDTA, anything ending in “sulfite” like sodium metabisulfite, Heptylparaben, isinglass)

If you know someone who drinks beer – share this post with them.

These ingredients are no joke. We must inform and protect each other from these industrial chemicals, untested and potentially harmful ingredients and it starts by sharing your knowledge with the ones you love.

Bottoms up!

Food Babe

 

Enjoying Dinner copy

UPDATE: In June 2014, I launched a petition to ask the two most popular beer companies in the U.S., Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, to publish the complete ingredient lists for all of their beers online. Within only 24 hours, the petition received over 40,000 signatures and gained exposure on several mainstream media outlets including ABC News, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune. This same day, Anheuser-Busch announced that they would agree to publish their complete ingredients online, and MillerCoors quickly followed suit. Anheuser-Busch has since published the ingredients for several of their beers online (they have not published all of them), revealing that some contain high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, artificial flavors, preservatives, sweeteners, and other additives. MillerCoors also listed ingredients on their website for many beers which contain corn syrup (GMO), high fructose corn syrup, sucrose (sugar), and natural flavors. 
 
UPDATE: In October 2015 Guinness announced that they are stopping the use of isinglass in their refining process so that their beer will become vegan-friendly.
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1,465 responses to “The Shocking Ingredients In Beer

  1. Wow that was shocking… I am glad I don’t drink beer anymore. However, I was a bartender for over 10 years and I have drank my share of stuff. Thanks for the eye opener. How is New Beligum Brewery -Fat Tire by the way?

      1. Fat Tire is one of my husbands fave beers(We purchased the tap for our kegerator!) …Mine is Wolaver’s Organic Oatmeal Stout. So sad about Guinness. (Used to) love it. But I avoid HFCS whenever I can…

      2. Danielle- I was also so shocked about the HFCS in Guinness… what is a girl to do on st. patty’s day?!

  2. I rarely drink beer, but this really has me thinking about my loved ones who do consume more. When I lived in New Orleans, Abita was definitely my (and every one else) beer of choice. I just went to their website and under ingredients it says this: “There are only four main ingredients in Abita Beer: Water, Barley, Yeast, and Hops. Just four simple ingredients combine to create over two dozen very different brews. Nothing artificial ever goes into Abita Beer; we use only all-natural ingredients”. I know that means pretty much nothing, but I am definitely curious to find out what else is actually in their beer.

    1. this is my beer of choice and i’m taking the “nothing artificial” as a good sign. sure it may be GMO but i haven’t totally cut those out of my diet as i have excluded artificial colors & preservatives. i don’t count calories — i run hard everyday and i thoroughly enjoy my one beer each night. now, jockamo, purple haze or strawberry for tonight….?

      1. Strawberry was my favorite but haven’t had it in 5 years. I have only come across amber and purple haze in Maryland.

  3. I can hardly stand to drink beer anymore. A few months ago, I had 3 and it had been months before I had those. Two were Budweiser and one was from a local brewing company. I felt sick for days after that. I told my husband I am not drinking Budweiser anymore.
    Most of the time we buy craft beers but we were in a small town bar that didn’t have much of a choice.

  4. Oh no, you have crushed me Food Babe. Any beers safe? Craft brews, anything? Ugh!!!!

    1. Food Babe gives examples in the article: Sierra Nevada, Heineken and Amstel Light, German beers and Certified Organic beers. Be sure to also check the ingredients in your local craft beers as well, surely some of them are safe!

      1. Thanks, I am at work and responded too quickly and did a quick scan, I will be drinking Amstel now.

      2. GMO corn is the only possible item that could be bad for you. Though the brewing process breaks down the starches into sugars which are the fermented into alcohol (the actual harmful part). Any GMO proteins, etc would be left behind. Stop worrying about your beer and start worrying about bad and misleading science.

      1. I was just going to ask about wine, so happy to hear! I drink a couple of glasses per week and recently started to wonder about sulfites, additives, etc. But I never thought about beer, which my health-conscious husband drinks regularly and I “steal” sips of…Eek! Sad to know…but even more so, glad to know. Thanks, Food Babe!

      2. Ekkkk…Please do Wine! I am scared. I did find a new Certified Organic one at Kroger and its pretty good…but I do want to know about my favs and it they are just as bad off as Beer.

      3. Yes, PLEASE investigate wine. I also have been wondering about the sulfites, additives, etc…

      4. Whether to require the inclusion of ingredients on wine labels or not is the subject of a huge debate in the wine industry right now. Many proponents of full-disclosure labeling, such as Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard, have been arguing that it is the responsibility of every winemaker to do so, as it is also the responsibility of the winemaker to produce as “natural” as a wine as possible, in the most minimally hands-on way. This extends to farming of the grapes as well, with sustainable, organic and/or biodynamic growing being the starting point. Others feel that the labeling process (getting label approvals though the labeling board, etc.) is already so tedious and time-consuming that to include ingredients, which vary from wine to wine and vintage to vintage and usually aren’t set in stone until bottling, would add unnecessary burden and cost, and seriously impact time-to-market, especially for smaller producers. In general, like beer, higher-end wine has less additives; lower-end wine could almost be created in a laboratory rather than in a winemaking facility there are so many chemicals and colorants added, not to mention “invasive” procedures such as flashing, or reverse osmosis to control alcohol levels.

      1. There is an equally scary list of allowed additives for wine, including isinglass, polyvinyl-polypyr-rolidone, ammonium bisulphite, thiamine hydrochloride, diammonium phosphate, ammonium sulphate, ammonium sulphite, potassium ferrocyanide, sulphur dioxide, argon, potassium bisulphite, dimethyl dicarbonate (DMDC), potassium metabisulphite/disulfite, allyl isothiocyanate and other funky stuff!

  5. Thanks so much for this! Thankfully, I am mainly a craft beer drinker but will be paying more attention to their ingredients. One of my favorite craft breweries, Jester King (out of Austin), lists their ingredients online (http://jesterkingbrewery.com/beers/#beers_242) and brew almost exclusively with organic wheat and other organic ingredients. My reco for your family would be to try their Drink’in in the Sunbelt, a collaboration with Mikkeller, that is USDA organic.

    1. As long as you are switching, you should try better beer. Find a local or regional brewery and try them all till you find one you like. For a light beer drinker I would suggest Witbier, pilsner (European), English mild, American Pale ale (APA), belgian Blonde (my favorite is Leffe) or wheat beer (any kind).

    1. It’s not, Anheuser-Busch is owned by InBev which also owns Stella. So technically Budweiser is not even an American beer anymore.

  6. Brilliant detective work, FB!! I had no idea beer was so polluted with toxins. Makes me happy I quit drinking years ago. But I do feel badly for all the people who think it’s harmless. Thank you for such a thorough investigation — well done!!

  7. I cleaned up my diet dramatically in the past year and had about 1/4 cup of my husband’s beer at a dinner party recently.

    Within 10 minutes, I had turned green and almost fainted.

    Now I see why.

    Thanks so much! This is a great post!

  8. Thank you for your due diligence on subject of beer! Always remember caveat emptor aka buyer beware!

  9. Shocking information but very informative. Thank you once again for the enlightenment!! Love your tenacity. Also living with a beer drinker and being very health concerned we have tried many many beers and one of the most loved even for me a non beer lover is Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout. Available at Earthfare!

  10. But who would drink this cheap beer? Drink German beer which has been made with a pure recipe for centuries! Or any other European beer that is made with standards and adherence to laws. This crap made here in the USA is just that, cheap crap.

    1. Saying that “crap made here in the USA is just that, crap” is a very broad generalization and, frankly, completely untrue. As of March 2013 there were 2,360 craft breweries in the US, most of them (arguably) making much better beer than can be had *anywhere* in the world, and without the additives included by the large-scale, “macro” breweries.

  11. Gross!! I am not much of a beer drinker thankfully but I do love a glass of vino. Could you do an investigation on wine please? It would be so helpful to know what to stay away from. Thank you!

  12. i forgot to say, in Germany they have purity laws regarding their beer. It results in a quality product. Probably the same is true of other European countries.

  13. I was wondering, which beer manufacturer admitted to putting a beaver’s anal gland, or anything similar in their product?

    1. That’s just gross, it reminded me of what they put in Vaccine’s…cells from aborted fetus, monkey kidney, cow stomach…and that’s shot DIRECTLY into childres blood streams.

      1. ignorance is bliss Patrick…if you are not interested in learning the truth and want to follow the leader than why are you even here? Spend your time somewhere else.

      2. Strange as it sounds, brewers would never use beaver anal glands in their beer. Especially the big brewers. Why add a perfume ingredient which is available in such small amount to make beer taste wrong? It is probably on the list of allowed ingredients from a hundred years ago. I’m not sure what it would be used for but back in those days there was more old wives tales than science. We use science now.

    2. That would be the swedish craft brewery Närke, with their festival beer “Bäver” (which translates to “beaver”)

      The whole thing is a gimmick, relax and chill down!

  14. Do you have any other specific beer recommendations? It looks like I’ll be looking for Sierra Nevada for now. Thanks for this information!

  15. My husband brews beer and, while I agree that beer shouldn’t have things like GMO rice and corn, other things, like the clarifiers, are a different story. Isinglass and gelatin are added before bottling to pull out any cloudiness or leftover yeast in certain types of beer. The way they do this is by binding with the non-fermented particles, allowing them to be filtered out. Again, they are FILTERED OUT. It’s not like they dissolve this stuff in your beer deceitfully just to make you sick. There may be some residue left, but it’s a negligible amount. And, this is not done with all beers, only certain types. Offhand, I don’t remember which, but the article references stout beers like Guinness, and I know the time we used the isinglass it was for a darker, sweeter beer. Lighter beers like ales and pilsners should be fine.

    1. Thanks for the additional information. I agree – it’s not used in all beers. Regardless, I know vegans and vegetarians would not be happy about even a little amount of isinglass!

      1. Although Hitler was Austrian/German, he was a vegetarian; the combination creates evil! In my own experience, vegetarian, and especially “vegans”, don’t make good beer-drinking buddies as, to paraphrase George Orwell’s observation a long time ago, they choose to live outside societal norms in a irritative way so that they can live an extra 5 years…in which to irritate people longer! Ah ha ha ha..just kidding. In regard to the use of “scary” fish bladders; they have long been used, in a dry and processed form called isinglass, to accelerate the flocculation of yeast at the end of the fermentation stage, especially in “time-sensitive” cask-conditioned ales so that these fine ales retain the intended-but-evolving flavor without having to wait for the normal, but very slow, sedimentation that occurs in a maturing/brite tank, which might then negate the “freshness” effect . Thus, the isinglass (or gelatin)-bonded spent yeast can be filtered out (with maybe a little residue left). There are 2 kinds of vegetarians that I am aware of; the first sort, which I think are more numerous, just want the benefits of a non-meat diet (with the hazards of some low essential vitamin intake), whereas the other group doesn’t want to kill animals no matter what. Thus the first group would not necessarily balk at gelatin/isinglass residue as it is a neutral component in all meats that forms the fascia that bundles up the “meat” (muscle tissue). Thus, one might be a little alarmist by saying that isinglass is a “scary” additive as the casual reader without any brewing knowledge will freak out. Of course, do vegans consider yeast (since they wiggle) to be “verboten” as the could have eyes but they mostly live in dark brewery tanks like blind cave fish….

  16. While I knew beer couldn’t be free of those harmful chemicals, I’m happy to see German beers are still a relatively safe bet, as are local craft beers. I pretty much only drink local or craft beers. But I HATE that they don’t have to list the ingredients on the label because I love to have a beer every once in a while.

    1. Are you ready for an ingredient list of almost every beer on the planet?! Here it goes: water, malted grains, hops, yeast. There you go!

  17. I used to joke around that I wouldn’t wash my feet with these crappy macro-brews. Now I definitely won’t!

    As far as suggestions for ways to avoid these bad additives/ingredients, find smaller micro-breweries who are in business first and foremost to make great beer! (easy to do in Wisconsin here 😉 A small micro-brewery won’t stay in business for long if they don’t make great beer…and great beer will NEVER have corn or rice in it!

    1. Actually, New Glarus Spotted Cow is just one example of a great beer with a bit of corn in it, and Kiuchi Brewery’s Hitachino Nest Red Rice Ale is an example using rice. As long as those ingredients are being used to create a specific flavor profile and not as an adjunct to allow for cheaper, mass production, I say go for it.

      1. Agreed, most people have no idea that corn works great in certain styles. They assume that since the big 3 use corn and rice as a large amount of the grain, that somehow those ingredients are evil.

        I know a coworker who just made a Mexican lager with his own malted corn. He says it’s delicious.

  18. Thanks foodbabe, you just ruined my appetite for beer 😉

    regd. the non-gmo one’s, how do we know for sure the German beers or Sierra Nevada are good – is it just their word?

    1. Beer is VERY important to Germans and to the German economy. There are very strict laws regarding what ingredients are allowed in German beers, just water, barley, yeast and hops. A company which violates these laws would be shut down. You will never see any German beers on the shelves with lime, rice, or any other “trendy” ingredients.

      1. But you won’t get those German beers in the US. Please do your research on the Reinheitsgebot.

      2. Actually, many of the German beers I’ve purchased in the US that say on the label that they comply with Reinheitsgebot laws. Also, many GMOs are banned in Germany.

    1. I agree! Mill St. Organic Lager is my beverage of choice on a hot summer’s day. It’s getting sold out more often now as it’s popularity grows.

  19. Thanks Food Babe. I dont drink beer however I know a lot of people who do. I appreciate all your hard work and I just know that if you get one persons attention, that one person will get another persons attention and we all together can do this!! Keep up the good work.

  20. My husband brews his own beer so he knows exactly what is going into it 🙂

  21. Sam Smith has organic beer and its sold at Trader Joes and Earth Fare. We really like their Oatmeal Stout. It’s super dark, so not for the light hearted 🙂 Luckily, Sierra Nevada is another brand that we really enjoy! Thanks Food Babe!

  22. Some of the best beers I’ve had period – and they are organic – is a microbrewery in Portland, Oregon – Hopworks Urban Brewery. But they are very localized

  23. Sometime in the 1970s the US government updated or implemented for the first time the truth in labeling act. At issue for the beer industry was the requirement to list all ingredients. The beer industry complained that there was no room on the can or bottle for listing everything. That should give everyone something to think about. The article I was reading was in the Seattle Times or the Seattle Post Intelligencer. The article I was reading published the list of ingredients that beer companies were using at the time. There appeared to be around 100 or more possible ingredients, all chemicals, and as far as I know, to this day none of them have been tested as to being safe for human consumption. The beer industry I believe got an exemption from the requirement to prove the chemicals were safe. Foodbabe, if you are going to persue your investigation of beer additives, I think this should be your initial point of investigation.

    1. Post the article please. If it was chemicals resulting from the brewing process, there could be many hundreds, all created by heat or fermentation from basic ingredients (water with ions in it), malt, barley, wheat, hops, yeast.

  24. I could not help but notice your hearty wine toast in the closing photo. I assume you realize that essentially the same thing is true of wine? i.e., fish bladders etc… I am sure the circumstances are not literally identical, but based on 30secs of google it appears to be a quite similar situation. Just sayin. 🙂

  25. FishTail Organic Amber is a great organic beer! Your family should check it out. Living in the Pacific NW allows lots of access to yummy organic and local craft beers 🙂

  26. I make my own hard cider. It’s easy and I know EXACTLY what is in it. Tastes so much better too.

      1. I went to the local brew shop and talked to the owner who gave me his favorite recipe. There are a lot online as well.

  27. I am definitely going to share this article with my dad, brother and husband. My husband drinks Peak Organic IPA or Lagunitas IPA (not sure how clean this one is-but am now interested to know) and they are both fairly good if you look IPAs! Thanks for the informative article,

  28. Please do an investigation on wine!! Every one of your investigations have lead me to dramatically reduce or eliminate the item in your article, frozen yogurt being the most recent (I used to visit those yogurt shops twice a week but after reading your article and picturing the powered mix they use, I’ve barely gone back.) I don’t drink beer much but when I do it is typically Mich Ultra or the Mich Ultra Lime Cactus. In your investigation, did you happen to run across what they use for the lime flavor? I’ve had the feeling whatever it is is junk, but I tend to play oblivious until I read it in black and white in your articles! Thank you for your hard work!

    1. If all you drink is michelob ultra than you are really close to eliminating beer altogether. You might as well drink water. As a homebrewer, I’m sure that lime flavor is entirely artificial.

  29. Based on preliminary research the Wine situation is quite similar. The issue is not beer or wine or any food. Its fascism. When corporate profits determine what’s good we get get crap. This is especially a problem now that the media is owned by the same people. So we are left with a broken feedback system. Consumers who would/should/could vote with their money are so manipulated that its practically impossible even knowing what to vote for. Thanks for doing what you can to restore the feedback system and help people create positive change by giving them the information to make informed choices.

  30. My wife drink Bourbon… She produces, owns and operates a 100% natural mineral makeup company. She investigated our Bourbon of choice (Makers Mark) and found they are only using organic, GMO free corn to make their whisky. Thank you Food Babe for doing all that research on beer.

  31. This is a perfect reason to support your local craft and artisian breweries! Food Babe listed a couple bigger names, but there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of incredible microbreweries throughout the U.S. making way better beer (and of pure ingredients) than any major conglomerate could dream of. Beer is fantastic, a beverage with a rich cultural and geographic history that is fine to drink in moderation and a staple of societies dating back to ancient Egypt. Don’t hate on beer, just the crap that has been proven awful like the giant global conglomerates like Miller or Anheiser Busch.

  32. The bulk of the ingredients and additives listed above are relegated to large breweries that brew beer at multiple locations worldwide to ensure consistency in color and to keep costs down by adding adjuncts like corn sugar. I think it is an unfair assessment of beer drinkers to state that there is a 100% chance you don’t know what is in your beer. The majority of craft and microbreweries take pride in the quality of their ingredients and process and taking the steps to add the ingredients/additives fly in the face of what these establishments stand for. Glycol, a cooling agent used in temperature control, is kept separate from the beer and if it ended up in beer there would have to be a catastrophic failure at the brewery and is unlikely. I fully appreciate the statements concerning liver function and health, but I feel like blanket statements about the beer industry are unwarranted.

  33. I got my husband hooked on Wolaver’s Wildflower Wheat. It’s organic from Vermont (we’re Bostonians) and its great for the summer!

  34. I knew about this about 6-7 years ago and made a pint of calling and emailing Heineken, Stella Artois and Strongbow Cider to ask if they used isinglass or natural flavours (beaver anal glands). They all said no. At the time I wasn’t as aware of the gmo takeover so now the beerbabe is right… Go with the German or organic beers. Becks is tasty! : )

    1. Beck’s sold to Inbev (who also bought Budweiser) in 2002 and has been produced for the US market in St Louis since 2012.
      It’s also brewed in Bulgaria, Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, China, Nigeria, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Turkey, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even a bit in Germany.

      If you’re worried about the GMOs and other ingredients that are discussed in this article you need to find a new brew of choice : (

      Inbev is the main culprit behind most of these inferior products being used. They are the evil empire of the beer world.

    2. Unfortunately, Becks is now owned by AB InBev and the Becks beer that is consumed in North America has been brewed in St Louis, Missouri since 2012.

  35. I like being 100% myself so I’ve actually never had a sip of anything alcoholic in my life! It’s only water and homemade juicing for my beverages.

  36. Good work on this; the food labeling laws are so lax in the US that the beer companies can get away with these ingredients w/o any public scrutiny….until now! Stick with the German and Organic beers.

    1. This article refers to big beer (BMC: Bud, Miller, Coors). Your local craft beer brewer only uses pure ingredients. BMC uses rice and corn to cut costs. It’s not about flavor, it’s about mass production.

  37. Good work, Food Babe! I don’t drink beer – not because I dislike it. In fact, I’m Irish, and most of my family members drink a lot of it. I don’t drink beer because it makes me throw up. Literally! My body just tosses it
    right back out. Now I know why! Thanks!

  38. How about Sam Adams and Magic Hat beers? Were they contacted. If so, did they refuse to disclose?

  39. For organic craft beers, check out these: Bison (sold nationally) and our local organics, sold in Asheville NC and around – Pisgah and Highland Breweries both offer certified organic varieties. Please do a followup with a list of organic and clean craft breweries! Thank you for all you do!

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