It’s about time bartenders started signposting their drinks to show respect for those embracing a plant-based lifestyle, says Becky Paskin

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I’ve been vegetarian for 30 years but the only time I feel the need to mention it is to avoid awkwardness (so friends don’t accidentally book us into Burger & Lobster) or as an opener for a Class column. Occasionally I’ll let waiters in on my ‘dirty little secret’ – should the menu look particularly carnivorous – but it’s only recently I’ve also felt compelled to tell bartenders. Not because I feel an overwhelming urge to appear ethically superior, but because navigating cocktail menus when you’re plant-based has become a nightmare.

The recent trend for savoury cocktails and headline-grabbing ingredients has had bartenders flocking to animal-derived products. Everything from the more accepted and widespread use of eggs and milk in sours and clarified cocktails, through to the more repulsive bacon fat, sheep pancreas and blood.

Regardless of whether you’d consider the inclusion of offal in cocktails as genius or gross, the problem is that these ingredients aren’t always highlighted on menus.

The use of hidden animal products is so prolific that I’ve inadvertently sipped on a bacon fat-washed Old Fashioned, and ordered a Dirty Martini garnished with a cocktail stick-impaled dried anchovy. These might sound delicious to meat eaters, but when you’re plant-based – for personal or religious reasons – accidentally consuming animal products can be a triggering experience.

Hidden ingredients or not, it’s becoming easier to find (and more acceptable to order) good non-alcoholic cocktails than those suitable for vegans or vegetarians. At one of the most awarded bars in New York, upon enquiring which of its extensive menu of savoury cocktails were safe for a plant-based guest, I was guided towards just two choices. These days everything is pre-batched too, so there is little wiggle-room for bartenders who might want to make a meat-free version for guests.

It’s infuriating when so much beautiful produce exists to elevate savoury cocktails, from umami-rich beef tomatoes to fragrant cucumbers, silky coconut oil, nutty sesame oil and mouth-puckering pickles. Overreliance on meat and animal by-products comes off as primitive and unimaginative.

This might seem like an insignificant bugbear, but stay with me. There are an estimated 3.4 million vegans and 6.1 million vegetarians in the UK, representing a significant portion of the adult population who follow plant-based diets (source: Finder). Over a third of Millennials now identify as a vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian, or plan to adopt one of these diets in 2025, a lifestyle choice that rises to almost 50% of Gen Z (source: Finder). That’s no minority. In fact, with a third of Gen Z choosing not to consume alcohol (source: Portman Group), the younger generation is more likely to be plant based than sober.

Common ingredients

I’ve been avoiding meat and writing about drinks for quite some time now, so am familiar with the ingredients commonly used for fat washing, clarification and foam, but I’m willing to bet the majority of bar guests aren’t. Would an 18-year-old vegan know to ask for their first Bloody Mary to be served sans-Worcestershire sauce? That crispy bacon garnish might look super cute on Instagram, but it’s going straight in the sink if it’s not mentioned and unwanted.

Aside from acknowledging that plant-based people enjoy cocktails too, the easiest and most obvious solution to avoid awkward or traumatic experiences is to signpost menus. The restaurant industry has excelled at highlighting vegan and vegetarian options with a simple ‘vg’ for decades, so why haven’t bars?

There is no official guidance in the UK for bars when it comes to highlighting vegan-friendly drinks, but with a growing proportion of the population embracing a plant-based diet, showing some consideration makes for good customer service.

Take some time to consider whether your bottled and draught beers, wines and even mixers are veganfriendly – for example, have they been filtered using gelatine, isinglass or egg white?

Consider going one step further by exploring plant-based alternatives for common animal-derived ingredients, such as aquafaba instead of egg whites, smoked sun-dried tomato oil instead of bacon fat, coconut milk or agar agar instead of cow’s milk for clarification, seaweed instead of fish… maybe just skip the unnecessary blood and offal altogether. These plant-based ingredients have the added benefit of being more shelf stable, less time consuming and won’t put off half your potential guests.

We’re in the business of hospitality, ensuring each guest feels welcome and looked after, regardless of their dietary preferences. If the industry put as much thought and effort into plant-based drinks as it has nonalcoholic ones, menus would become far more enjoyable to peruse (so long as they’re not bound in leather).

It’s time bars caught up to the standard set by restaurants and embrace the ‘vg’. If only so people like me can stop having to tell everyone they’re vegan.