Just to be clear... vegans (in the US at least) don't need to limit themsleves to just a few beers... most beers that use isinglass are cask conditioned ales made in the UK. You still have to watch out for things like Milk Stouts, and Oyster Beers, but those are pretty obvious.

More info on this can be found here, and here

FYI: This beer may or may not be good, but it won't have anything to do with the german purity law.

First, the purity law is now "illegal" under the EU membership doctrines that germany signed up with.

Second, all the purity law states is that beer must be made from only 4 ingrediants: Barley/Malted Barley, yeast, hops, water.

Thats it. it doesn't actually regulate any quality. And under the german purity law any beer that doesn't fit in isn't "pure" or whatever, which means wheat beers, rye beers, any belgian beer (brewed with candy sugar), or any beer with fruit added for flavor.

The german purity law is basically a big fat gimmick for beer brewers to trick uninformed drinkers.

That said, looks like it could be a good beer :) Apart from isinglass and gelatin, there are other "fining agents" that brewers use that are 100% vegan, such as polyclar.

It's too bad that re-using beer bottles is just a new idea in some countries. In Canada, "bringing back the empties" has been part of the beer drinking experience for decades. Good citizens who bring their bottles back even get a bit of money (ususally 10 cents per bottle), which more often than not goes right back into the purchase of more beer. Cheers!

aren't yeast cultures alive?

or do only cute furry animals count for vegans?

"or do only cute furry animals count for vegans?"

Most vegans and vegetarians draw the line at life forms that can feel pain and distress (have a nervous system, etc). Some go farther than that for other reasons (environmental, ethical, etc).

I've never heard of anyone going as far as yeast...

My favorite beers come in glass bottles, and it always struck me as so wasteful to have them melted down and recycled instead of just cleaned and re-used. Are the transportation and logistical costs associated with returning used bottles really greater than the cost of new ones?
A few posts above mine mention this working in Canada, why not in California?

Yeast is a plant (fungi) rather than an animal.

"It's too bad that re-using beer bottles is just a new idea in some countries."

New Zealand has a proud history of swappa-crates, nice 750ml tallies you took back to the berwery to swap for a full batch. I imagine Australia is the same... although they are less popular now.

I just came back from New Zealand and was able to visit\try the Green Man brew. A few things I'll mention...

- I was there in early May 2007. While we were there, they had the roof off of one section of their brewery (basically a building the size of a small house... they really ARE a micro brewery!), and had just lowered in a big machine from Germany which will be used to clean out the bottles.

- I talked to the guy who is the graphic designer of their labels. He told me their label would be changing and showed me samples of the new design. It's somewhat similar to the picture above but the green man's eyes are now looking forward, his hair is a tiny bit different, and the background is solid instead of striped.

- I found out that the owner used to be partners with a guy from another big NZ brewery, Emersons. He left Emersons to start Greenman because differences in opinion over things like using Organic material, and the bottle washing issue.

- I sampled three of their beers: Lager, Best Bitter, and Dark Mild. I was told that the recipe of the lager and best bitter were going to be changing. Their brew master (from Germany) was playing with the styels. I think the plan was to change the Lager to be more of an Bock style beer (which is usually stronger and a bit more full bodied).
All three beers were very good. I'd rate them above average, 4 outta 5 pint glass rating.
The lager was very refreshing without being watery. The Bitter had a tad bit of a smoky flavor. The dark mild was like the lager but had hints of chocolate in the background.

-e

p.s. The regional breweries in Pennsylvania WERE offering bottle reuse up until 4-5 years ago, but that is pretty much dead. I'm not sure if there was some sort of change in the laws or if breweries don't find it profitable to reuse. Sad.

i have actually had this beer as well. i just got back from new zealand july 2. my "mate" that i went to visit became best friends with one of the owners of the brewery and aparently they are thinking about sending it to new york. if its successful it will be shipped across the states.

Thanks for the comments and kudos, fellahs!!
Yeah, we make beers from 100% organic ingredients,and we are currently undergoing certification for our processes, prior to being able to sell into the east coast of the States (early next year). We have 2 new 'seasonal' beers out (Strong, which is a blend of a whisky-barrel matured Doppelbock with our Best Bitter, and at 6.5% ABV is 'bigger' than our other beers, and is proving VERY popular. Visit our web-site for more info (its much better than our previous site, but is still rather basic, but functional).
The bottles we now use are mainly ALL from our re-use scheme, after the washer was installed over the past months, and became fully functional just weeks ago!

Our beers remain as pure as beer can be, without ANY added sugars or isinglass.

Cheers, Tom the Pom