Beer contains so-called empty calories from carbs and alcohol without a significant amount of nutrients. Some simple carbs can negatively affect blood sugar levels and are often stored as fat.
However, not all beers the same, and you can identify types high and low in calories. The crucial thing is to consider your health and avoid drinking more than one to three beers daily, particularly if you have an issue with hyperglycemia. Let’s see how many calories in beer.
How Many Calories in Beer?
As you have probably known, you need four ingredients to brew beer, including:
- 95% of water
- 5% of hops, yeast, and grains
The primary hops’ purpose is to increase the beer bitterness, add a specific flavor and aroma to the brew, and eliminate bacteria.
Grains provide beer color, give structure to foam, and are a source of natural sugars that yeast ferment to alcohol during fermentation. Unfortunately, this beverage is a high source of empty calories that have no nutritional value.
Approximately 60% of beer calories come from alcohol and 40% from carbs. In other words, a beer with a high alcohol content will be packed with calories.
Therefore, you should pay attention to ABV (alcohol by volume) on the label. This number will show you the alcohol content in 3.4 ounces (100 ml) of your favorite beer. In most cases, that value varies from 4 to 6%, but you can find beer types with an ABV range of 0.5 to 40%.
Let’s take a look at the nutritional value of a 12 ounces (0.35 l) regular beer serving that contains 4% ABV:
- 153 calories
- 07 ounces (2 g) proteins
- 45 ounces (13 g) carbs
- 0 ounces (0 g) fats
- 5 ounces (14 g) alcohol
Beer |
Calories |
Pale ale |
182 |
Brown ale |
160 |
Bitter |
180 |
Mild bitter |
142 |
Stout |
210 |
Lager |
170 |
Lager premium |
338 |
Sweet cider |
220 |
Vintage sweet cider |
580 |
Dry cider |
190 |
Among beer brands with the highest calorie levels are:
- Sierra Nevada India Pale Ale with 6.9% ABV and 231 calories
- Sierra Nevada Bigfoot with 9.6% ABV and 330 calories
- Dogfish Head, 120 Minute IPA with an impressive 18% ABV and enormous 450 calories
Best Low-calorie Beers
As I have already mentioned, not all beers are the same, and their effect on your body won’t be the same but will depend on ABV and the calories it contains. Keep in mind that alcohol contains 7 calories per 0.03 ounces (1 g). However, you can find numerous low-calorie beers on the market nowadays. Let’s see.
Lagers
Most people prefer drinking crisp lagers with a light and clean taste. You can find pale, amber, and dark varieties with 55 to 124 calories per 12 ounces (354 ml).
Budweiser Select has only 55 calories and 2.4% ABV, while the most caloric in this group is Samuel Adams with 124 calories and 4.3% ABV.
Beer |
Calories | ||
Per 1 fl. oz. (30 ml) | Per 100 ml |
Per can/bottle (354 ml) |
|
Ale |
11 | 35 | 124 |
Altbier | 13 | 43 |
152 |
Bass |
14 | 45 | 159 |
Beck’s | 12 | 39 |
138 |
Beer |
13 | 43 | 152 |
Blue Moon | 14 | 48 |
170 |
15 | 50 | 177 | |
Buckler | 6 | 21 |
74 |
Bud Ice |
11 | 35 | 124 |
Bud Light | 9 | 29 |
103 |
Bud Light Chelada |
13 | 43 | 152 |
Bud Light Lime | 10 | 34 |
120 |
Bud Select |
8 | 28 | 99 |
Bud Select 55 | 5 | 15 |
53 |
12 | 41 | 145 | |
Budweiser Chelada | 16 | 52 |
184 |
Busch |
11 | 37 | 131 |
Busch Light | 8 | 27 |
96 |
Busch N.A. |
5 | 17 |
60 |
Ales
This bitter-flavored beer type is a typical product of microbreweries in cold northern countries like Germany, Canada, and Belgium. Their taste is fruity and strong. You can find a few varieties with approximately 75 to 160 calories per 12 ounces (354 ml).
Le Petit Prince with 75 calories has 2.9% ABV, while the most caloric Fat Tire Amber Ale brings 160 calories and 5.2% ABV.
Beer |
Calories | ||
Per 1 fl. oz. (30 ml) | Per 100 ml |
Per can/bottle (354 ml) |
|
Carlsberg |
10 | 32 | 113 |
Clausthaler | 8 | 26 |
92 |
Colt 45 |
13 | 44 | 156 |
Coors | 13 | 42 |
149 |
Coors Light |
9 | 29 | 103 |
Coors N.A. | 5 | 18 |
64 |
Corona |
13 | 42 | 149 |
Dark Beer | 14 | 46 |
163 |
Genesee Cream Ale |
14 | 46 | 163 |
Ginger Beer | 13 | 42 |
149 |
Guinness |
11 | 35 | 199 |
Heineken | 11 | 35 |
124 |
Honey Brown |
13 | 42 | 149 |
Hurricane High Gravity | 12 | 39 |
138 |
15 | 51 | 181 | |
Keystone Ice | 12 | 40 |
142 |
Keystone Light |
9 | 29 | 103 |
Koelsch | 13 | 43 |
152 |
Labatt |
13 | 43 | 152 |
Lager Beer | 13 | 43 |
152 |
Land Shark |
13 | 42 | 149 |
Light Beer | 9 | 29 |
103 |
Lowenbrau |
14 | 45 |
159 |
Stouts
They are actually a type of ale made of roasted barley. The roasting process affects the beer color, and it is typically rich and dark.
Most stouts contain 126 to 192 calories per 12 ounces (354 ml), including Guinness Extra with 126 calories and 5.6% ABV. On the other hand, the most caloric Murphy’s Irish Stout contains 192 calories and 4% ABV.
Beer |
Calories | ||
Per 1 fl. oz. (30 ml) | Per 100 ml |
Per can/bottle (354 ml) |
|
Malt Beer |
11 | 37 |
131 |
Michelob Amber Bock |
14 | 47 | 166 |
Michelob Lager | 13 | 44 |
156 |
Michelob Light |
10 | 32 | 113 |
Michelob Ultra | 8 | 27 |
96 |
Michelob Ultra Amber |
8 | 26 | 92 |
Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus | 8 | 27 |
96 |
Miller Chill |
9 | 31 | 110 |
Miller Genuine Draft | 12 | 40 |
142 |
Miller High Life |
12 | 40 | 142 |
Miller High Life Light | 9 | 31 |
110 |
Miller Lite |
8 | 27 | 96 |
Milwaukee’s Best | 11 | 36 |
127 |
Milwaukee’s Best Light |
8 | 28 | 99 |
Molson | 13 | 42 |
149 |
Natural Ice |
13 | 44 | 156 |
Natural Light | 8 | 27 |
96 |
Newcastle |
12 | 39 | 138 |
Non-alcoholic Beer | 11 | 37 |
131 |
Gluten-free beers
Nowadays, it is possible to find gluten-free beer, under 20 ppm of a gluten level, on the market. This type doesn’t contain barley but is made of millet, rice, or sorghum. Low-calorie gluten-free beers have approximately 160 to 170 calories per 12 ounces (354 ml).
Glutenberg Blonde has the lowest calorie level with only 160 calories and 4.5% ABV, while Coors Peak is the most caloric and contains 170 calories and 4.7% ABV.
Beer |
Calories |
||
Per 1 fl. oz. (30 ml) |
Per 100 ml |
Per can/bottle (354 ml) |
|
Old Milwaukee |
12 | 41 | 145 |
Old Milwaukee | 5 | 16 |
57 |
Olde English |
14 | 45 | 159 |
O’Doul’s | 19 |
67 |
|
Pabst Blue Ribbon |
12 | 41 | 145 |
Pale Ale | 13 | 42 |
149 |
Pilsner |
13 | 43 | 152 |
Porter | 16 | 54 |
191 |
Redbridge (Gluten-free) |
14 | 45 | 159 |
Rolling Rock | 11 | 37 |
131 |
Rolling Rock Light |
9 | 30 | 106 |
Root Beer | 12 | 41 |
145 |
Samuel Adams |
14 | 45 | 159 |
Shock Top | 14 | 47 |
166 |
Shock Top Raspberry Wheat |
15 | 50 | 177 |
Sierra Nevada Strong | 19 | 62 |
219 |
Sparks |
22 | 74 | 262 |
St. Pauli Girl | 13 | 42 |
149 |
Steel Reserve |
19 | 63 | 223 |
Stout | 15 | 51 |
181 |
Stout Beer |
15 | 51 | 181 |
Strong Beer | 17 | 55 |
195 |
Tilt |
19 | 64 | 227 |
Wheat Beer | 14 | 45 |
159 |
Non-alcoholic beer
This beer type is an excellent choice for you if you prefer avoiding or limiting alcohol intake. Most of these brews are lower in calories than traditional beers, but it is not carved in stone.
Remember that some non-alcoholic beers contain up to 0.5% ABV since the US law approves that. Therefore, always check the alcohol content before drinking, especially if you are pregnant.
The number of calories in non-alcoholic beer ranges from 45 to 150 calories per 12 ounces (354 ml). Coors Edge with 0.5% ABV contains only 45 calories, while Budweiser Prohibition Brew has no alcohol but contains 150 calories.
Craft Beer
Things become a bit unclear when it comes to counting calories in craft beer. One thing is for sure. These brews almost always have more calories than standard commercial beers. One of the ways to determine this value is to do some math and calculate approximate beer calories:
beer calories = ABV% x factor 2.5 x ounces in the bottle
Keep in mind that beer with higher alcohol volume has more calories. For example, you can expect barley wine beer of 12 ounces (0.35 l) containing 10% alcohol to have approximately 300 calories. That is twice as many calories as in commercial beer.
The craft beers with the lowest calorie number:
- Wheat ale ‘Light point’ has 3.7% ABV and 86 calories
- IPA ‘The Stonewall Inn’ has 4% ABV and 95 calories
- IPA ‘Slightly Mighty’ has 4% ABV and 95 calories
- Wheat beer ‘LightSky’ has 4% ABV and 95 calories
- Hazy IPA ‘Flyjack’ has 4% ABV and 96 calories
- Nutbrown ale ‘Black Rice Ale’ has 3.8% ABV and 97 calories
- IPA ‘Daytime’ has 4% ABV and 98 calories
- IPA ‘So-Lo’ has 3% and 98 calories
- IPA ‘Hop 99’ has 4.2% ABV and 99 calories
- Pilsner ‘Da Shootz!’ has 4.2% ABV and 99 calories
- IPA ‘Wowza!‘ has 4% ABV and 100 calories
- Hazy IPA ‘One-y’ has 4% ABV and 100 calories
Summary
The range of beer calories can be wide, depending on its type, ingredients it contains, and alcohol percentage. Always keep in mind that you can drink one glass very fast, but you will need at least 40 minutes of brisk walking to get rid of 150 calories and prevent the beer belly occurrence.
Thank you for a very informative article. The crux of the matter, the more you drink the drunker you get.