Birmingham pub puts on three-day vegan beer festival

The annual event will be the Gunmakers Arms’ third vegan festival, after it made its entire collection of beers - brewed at its onsite microbrewery the Two Towers Brewery - vegan friendly.

“We are not vegan ourselves, but [our beer] went that way around four years ago, and we decided to put on the festival, so we didn’t limit our market or lose out on any vegan beer drinkers,” said owner Darren Campbell. 

Demand for vegan beer​

All the food and drink at the festival will be free from meat, fish and dairy ingredients, and there will be a variety of brewers offering up their vegan selection.

“The demand for vegan beer is increasing,” said Campbell. “You now see more and more breweries making vegan-friendly beer.

“Just recently Birmingham has had a bit of a boom. Last year there were three or four new breweries and all of those are making vegan beer.”

Opening up the market​

Campbell said the festival was embracing the growing trend, and while the festival is a benefit financially, it also helps advertise their vegan collection, opening up the market to drinkers who may be concerned about what is in their beer.

The festival will run from 12noon to 11pm from Thursday 20 July to Saturday 22 July.

Big brands following the trend​

Some larger brands are also moving in that direction. Guinness announced that it has abolished​ the use of fish-derived isinglass from its production process in April and Harvester launched a vegan menu​ the same month.