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The world’s first Vegan Oktoberfest is happening tomorrow, not in Brüssellettuceicenburger, Germany, but in Santa Monica, CA. This Oktoberfest is going to be as authentic to the German festival as an event can get, but without meat and animal products. For the carnivores reading this, there’s no need to stay away because this Oktoberfest has a fantastic array of craft beer that will delight anyone no matter what you’re food eating orientation is.
I was able to speak with the organizers, Jill Ryther and her partner David Burke, about the vegan beerfest that is happening tomorrow from 1:00pm to 6:00pm. David introduced Jill to craft beer at UCLA Law School, and like all craft beer drinkers, she was hooked and couldn’t go back to the carbonated yellow water that she was accustomed to back in her home town in Michigan. They became vegan about six years ago and started an animal rights legal practice where they’re both animal rights attorneys. You may think that this sounds like the synopsis for the latest courtroom drama on Animal Planet, but in actuality this is serious business (the FBI just turned animal cruelty into a Top-Tier Felony). They even made a non-profit company called Expand Animal Rights Now (EARN) that helps cover legal costs for animal rights cases.
Jill and David found that the majority of vegan events in the vegan community either cater to vegans so people outside of the community don’t come or they cater to outsiders which deters the vegans. Jill and David wanted to make an event that caters to both communities as well as combine their other two passions of craft beer and animal rights. Thus they created the first Vegan Oktoberfest by supplying unlimited beer from 23 craft breweries and donating part of the proceeds to EARN.
You may be asking yourself, “What makes a beer, vegan?” Many beers are vegan, they just don’t advertise it. The real question is “What makes a beer not vegan?” Several craft beers use a fine white powder called diatomaceous earth in their filtering process. This cocaine looking substance consists of diatoms, which are fossilized algae that are ground up into microscopic particles. It has a high porosity due to the hollow particles that help trap very fine particles that usually clogs or passes through paper filters. I use diatomaceous earth as a safe insect killer because it causes bugs to instantly dehydrate. Some people don’t want insect killer filtering their beer. That’s understandable. Beers like Guinness and most cask conditioned ales use isinglass which is collagen that is made from the dried swim bladders of fish. The isinglass helps with the clarification, or fining of the beer, which helps flocculate yeast into a jelly substance that settles at the bottom of the cask. Basically this yeast fish bladder Jell-O accelerates the fining process.
There are casks that don’t use isinglass in the fining process, and the Vegan Oktoberfest is doing a traditional tapping of one of these casks as they crack open a firk of Angel City’s Oktoberfest to kick off the event. Other local LA County breweries will be present such as Golden Road, Hangar 24, The Dudes, Four Sons, Bravery, and Venice Duck Brewery. Other breweries from San Diego, NorCal, Utah, Oregon, and Colorado fill out the list. Each brewery will have at least two different beers on tap pouring a wide array of brews from pumpkin stouts, IPAs, white ales, and of course Oktoberfest Märzens. Every fest patron will get the traditional beerfest five ounce mini stein to ensure that you can try almost all the beers being served without paying a visit to the liver transplant tent.
All your traditional Oktoberfest activities will be happening like yodeling contests, the Chicken Dance, beautiful beer maidens, an Oompah Band, and my favorite, the Stein Holding Contest (which I’ll be participating in). Your favorite vegan Oktoberfest food will be served, and I know this may sound like an oxymoron, but trust me, vegan bratwursts are delicious. Throw on your lederhosen (and you may not need anything else on because it will be a toasty 88 degrees tomorrow) and head to Santa Monica to the Vegan Oktoberfest where you can feel good about helping animals, what you eat, and most importantly, what you drink. 
