Bishops, monks and Saints have urged all people to drink beer instead of water, and have saved our European ancestors from the plague and other deadly diseases. Those who didn’t drink beer died. Today, other diseases in their live stock plague Europe, and it is important to find out if animal products are used to make beer.

It is known that in mediaeval times ox-legs were boiled together with the wort and the hops to clear the beer. There is even a Flemish saying that confirms the practice. When a beer was high in alcohol, people said: “ Strong beer, the brewer must have boiled a whole ox in the kettle.” Later, in the 16th century dried cow-blood was used more and more. For example in France, the use of ox-legs in the brewing process was outlawed in 1684, but admitted again in 1718, but under the new rule, the ox-legs had to be boiled separately and only the extract could be used. It is known that when the monks of West Vleteren started to brew in 1839, they still used the ox-legs. The animal fatty molecules brought down particles in the beer, and cleared the end result. The practice to use animal parts ceased to exist around the end of the 19th century when better filtering equipment became available.

The European community specifically forbade the use of animal parts in brewing beer and making wine in 1987, and re-enforced the rule in 1997 again as a measure to tell consumers that Europe protects them from Mad Cow Disease. But in the summer of 1999 a big scandal hit France, that was mostly unpublicized outside France: the Inspectors of the ‘Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes’ (General Directorate of the Competition, the Consumption and the Repression of Fraud.), one of the European Authorities, caught some French wineries in the Southern part of the Rhone region still using dried cow-blood! Before you, French wine drinkers, run to the doctor to find out if you have Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, experts tell us that the chance is very, very minor.

As Belgian beer drinkers we can be absolutely sure that no animal parts or substances are used to brew, clear and age Belgian beer. It’s a guarantee from the Belgian Beer Brewer’s association, and inspectors of the Belgian Health Department, and inspectors from the European Departments are watching out for us.