True vegan's and beer...?!

True vegan's and beer...?

I heard a rumor that a lot of beer is filtered through "beef bones". I wanted to know if this was true. Can someone who doesn't want to use any animal products drink beer?

Cheers.

To find truly vegan beer, you have to do a little research on the brewery. On the one hand, they're not filtered through beef bones or any bones, for that matter. However, the truth is only slightly removed.
To clarify beer, some sort of "fining" agent is used. This is added to the beer while it's still conditioning, and before being kegged or bottled. One of the most effective fining agent is "isinglass" which is derived from sturgeon swim bladders (fish parts, essentially). When the isinglass is added (or any fining agent) it attracts the fine bits of yeast and grain and whatever other ingredients that haven't settled out during conditioning...when they combine, this combination of the isinglass and the particulate becomes heavy enough to settle out. The beer to be served is then siphoned off of the sediment to give you sparkling clear beer.
Another clarifying agent is gelatin (unflavored Jell-o, essentially). Gelatin is derived from animal bones, so this is where the story you heard may have been mistakenly told.
Even though the isinglass or gelatin is not in the finished beer, it was used in the process of making the beer, so that beer would not be considered vegan.

HOWEVER (this is a big one)...
There are other fining agents that are perfectly vegan. Bentonite, which is super fine clay, and Irish moss, which is a derivative of kelp, are both very effective clarifiers and not at all derived from animals.

So, in doing your brewery homework, find out what method is used for fining...if it's even fined at all. For any that using isinglass or gelatine, keep moving. If they use bentonite or Irish moss, then those are your vegan beers...not contact at all with animal products.