New Year's Eve is a'coming and FAST! It's a professional drinkers' holiday, right up there with Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick's Day, for sure. If you're vegan or might be hosting a cocktail party with vegan attendees, you'll need to learn to drink like a vegan.

Non-vegan ingredients and by-products are frequently used in the production and refinement of various types of alcohol, including beer and liquor. These ingredients range from fish bladders (used in refining), insects used as coloring agents and pepsin, a foaming agent which is derived from pork. If you're interested in a full list of animal by-products used in beer and liquor production, just perform a quick little web search on your own because I'm not hear to gross everyone out!

I don't mean to make it sound as though all alcoholic beverages are tainted, because that's far from the truth. There are plenty of spirits out there for us vegans to imbibe, and they're not as difficult to discern as one might think. Although beverage companies are still not required to label their products with this type of information, lots of folks have already worked long and hard to gather and publish the details on your behalf. All you need to do is cross-reference your favorite drinks against one of these lists to determine its veg-drinkability.

Barnivore provides the most comprehensive list of specific brand names and their vegan-friendliness, but it's not the only one. Sharon Picone offers her list and Vegan Vanguard maintains a staggering list of beers and assesses their level of veg-friendliness.

if you're wondering about a product that isn't on one of these lists, let me know and I'll help you investigate!

Now that you've ID'd your vegan-friendly liquors, why not make some extra special infused vodka for your New Year's Eve party?