Religious News Service via AP — In November, three of America’s largest kosher certifying organizations came together to release new guidance regarding the status of beer, which has long been considered kosher by default. Due to the proliferation of flavorings brought on by craft brewing and other industry changes, however, the rabbis who declare whether food products are in line with Jewish dietary laws now say the label must be checked before drinking.

“We’ve discovered that companies use many flavors, different flavors, to enhance even the simple beers that they manufacture. Those flavors need to be kosherly supervised,” said Rabbi Moshe Elefant, the head of kosher operations at the Orthodox Union, who released the guidance along with Star-K and OK Kosher. “We’ve seen more than one situation… that some beers have dairy in them. They add lactose, they add milk, so a beer could be dairy, which has very serious kosher ramifications.”

So-called hazy IPAs, for instance, which have recently seen a massive jump in popularity among beer drinkers, sometimes contain lactose, a milk sugar, which adds a subtle creaminess and opacity. It also makes the resulting beer a no-no on any table where meat is being served, according to kosher laws.

The certifiers noted that more than 1,000 beers already bear certification from the major certifiers, but the new guidance is still a stark turn for those — the large majority of them Orthodox Jews — who keep kosher in the United States, and who have counted on beer as a safe go-to at social events and business lunches. Many are shocked by the decision. In an interview with the Forward, one Jewish beer aficionado noted that for kosher-keeping travelers, breweries were often a safer alternative to wineries, as wine has traditionally had far more complex kosher rules.

Posts and comments across social media have accused the certifiers of everything from a cash grab — the more rules, the more companies pay the organizations to review their products — to imposing arcane personal stringencies on the wider Jewish public.

Elefant stressed that the changes were the result of long deliberations.

“It’s a fine line and a tight rope that we walk on, because we want to do what’s right, but we recognize that the consumer has very, very........

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