Welcome to veganbrew, the pioneering effort of two vegan beer geeks to bring together the inventive worlds of vegan cuisine and craft beer. What does veganism and beer have to do with each other you ask? Perhaps it’s best summed up by honest Abe:

Artwork by Robyn Diaz

It is every genuine craft beer crusader’s mission to school the masses on the wonderfulness of craft beer in the hopes that they will wean themselves off of the carbonated piss served up by Budweiser, Miller and Coors. So why stop at what we drink? In an effort to wean the masses off of the garbage served up by KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King, we will regularly fill these pages with commentary on the whys and how-tos of eating and preparing delicious vegan food, while enjoying fine craft beer.

Make no mistake about it, the core of our mission is centered on social responsibility. The industrial model used for modern-day farming is flat-out reckless and immoral. However, let us be perfectly clear on this – we are not dumpster-diving, politically correct, granola hippies. Likewise, we are not self-important, “my shit doesn’t stink because I donate to Green Peace,” pseudo-environmentalists. On this blog you won’t find rants about the war in Iraq or how wrong it is to “water board” someone. The world is a fucked up place, but that, my friend, is why we drink so much! What you will find is reviews of vegan fare served up at brew pubs around the country, recipes for cooking with beer, socially responsible homebrewing, write ups of beer and vegan food pairing, vegan-friendly breweries, and much more.

About the authors:

Brett has been been vegan since 1994 and homebrewing since 2006. Kevin has been been vegan since 1999 and homebrewing since 2007. Hopefully, our experiences in both areas can help you find the best in the vegan and craft beer world.

Awards

Kevin and Brett’s collaboration homebrews have won several awards The first, a Belgian Barleywine named “Brother Oblivion” (based on the Dema-Goddess Ale recipe in Extreme Brewing), took 2nd place in the Belgian Specialty Ale category at the 2008 Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews. Their American Barleywine took 2nd place in the Strong Ale category in at the 2009 Knickerbocker Battle of the Brews and 3rd place at the 2009 HOPS BOPS Competition. Their Russian Imperial Stout beer took 2nd place for the Stout category at the 2009 HOPS BOPS as well.

Brett’s smoked porter took first place at the B.E.E.R 13th Annual Homebrew Competition. Kevin’s double IPA based on the “Hop Hammer” recipe in Brewing Classic Styles (Pliny the Elder clone) took 3rd place for American IPA at the 2008 HOPS BOPS Competition, while his crazyass saisonesque concoction dreamed up by Jon Medlinsky took 2nd place for Belgian Specialty Ale in the same contest. Also, Kevin’s Hoppy Tripel took 3rd place in the Belgian/French category at the 2009 HOPS BOPS Competition.