h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hey. i located the h2g2-vegetarian-society-site by clicking around. but i think this is no reason to dislike it so here´s my topic:
vegetarian for 6 years now i often got into discussions with other vegans/vegetarians about drinking (esp. beer) - we wondered if it "is vegetarian", what means, if there might have been killed/exploited/slaughtered or whatever any kind of animals for producing the stuff to drink. from the point of "health" drinking might be banned out of vegetarian "lifestyle", but is it really `non-vegetarian`? i´ve heard from some people that for producing beer the water must be must be filtered with a filter made out of animal-stuff (don´t know the exact name for it). did anybody know something about that? and what about the moral way of drinking and being vegetarian?
so far, so good - greetinx & venceremos! m.korsakov

Sometimes they clarify wine with gelatin (which doesn't stay in the product). Don't know about beer. For the wine, that's only a finishing step, and it's optional.

What amazes me is that people have been suprised that I drink coffee as a vegetarian. "Vegetarians don't drink coffee!". Coffee's made from beans. Vegetarians _like_ beans. I don't see the problem here (besides which, there's no conclusive evidence that moderate amounts of caffiene are bad for you). Then again, I've also been told that I look 'too healthy' to be vegetarian. Apparently I'm supposed to be completely spartan in diet and be a stick-girl with bulging eyes. This is the time to remind them of famous vegetarians in the animal kingdom: horses, gorillas, hippos, rhinos, elephants, blue whales...

I've heard that some red wines have blood of some sort in them. Does anyone know if there is any truth in this?
I've also heard something about most beer not being vegetarian... But never before anything about white wine. It makes you think about what they put in other things without saying, doesn't it?
Something else: some chocolate is covered with gelatine to make it shiney. Or so someone said to me once. Is there anywhere reliable to check all of this? Or do veggies just have to avoid anything that might possibly have something objectionnable in it... seemingly all the nicer things? Must be why we are so healthy...

yeah, so i´ve found the vegetarian society page and somewhere on it you can read all about what´s "really" vegan/vegetarian. so beer seems to be NOT because of something ... i think i forgot it, but check the site out! perhaps every question right here in that forum might be kind of "senseless" (oh my god my english! i hate my dictionary... ) greetinx m.korsakov

some beers & wines are veggie and some are not. Check this site out for lots of info, they also have a list of vegetatrian beers. http://www.vegsoc.org/info/alcohol.html
I'm a bit of a cider drinker myself and thank god Strongbow is veggie