Beer Calories:
Not How You Get 6-Pack Abs!

Based on a 12 ounce bottle/can of beer:

Type % Alcohol Calories Gram of Carb
Regular Beer Calories 5 % 150 13
Calories in Light Beer 3.1 % 100 6
Low Alcohol Beer 2.3 % 75 10
Non Alcoholic Beer < 0.5 % 65 13

Note: Numbers are approximate. Calories vary slightly from brand to brand.

cartoon beer drinker

Ever wonder why beer calories aren't listed right on the label?

It's because the beer companies fight pretty hard to keep nutrition information off their labels.

Note: If you're trying to lose weight, you need to know the calories in beer you're chugging!!

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The Story of How "Light" Beer Came to Be

The first light beer was marketed as "Diet Beer." It went over like a lead balloon.

Beer was indulged in mostly by men, and they didn't like the thought of eating or drinking "diet" anything!

Men didn't want to think about beer calories. It wasn't until some marketing genius had the brilliant idea of describing the lower calorie beer as Lite (or Light), that it started catching on...big time.

And get this: they didn't market it by saying the fewer calories in light beer would help you stay thin, they marketed it by saying that since it was so "light" you could actually stand to drink more of them in a sitting!

Maybe you drink light beer...

...hoping to keep your beer calories down. That's fine. I hope you're not one of those people who thinks light beer is like diet soda, that is, that it has no calories...because that is certainly not the case!

As noted in the chart at the top of the page, roughly speaking, the average 12 ounce bottle or can of regular beer has about 150 calories (130-160 calories). Light beer calories range 95-110 calories (average 100 calories). Not exactly zero!

How do they keep the calories in light beer down?

Two ways...

A little bit less alcohol. (Yes, alcohol has calories. Lots of them!) And a few less carbs. (Probably why most people think light beers don't taste as good.)

So what kind of beer has the fewest calories? I think you know the answer: non-alcoholic beer. (65 calories in that 12 ounce bottle.)

Of course, a healthier option would be to just drink club soda when you're out partying. No calories, you don't have to worry about driving drunk, and it's cheaper!

Alcohol Calories Are a Double Whammy

Remember also that alcohol lowers inhibitions.

I'm not talking about dancing with a lampshade on your head. What I mean is that since drinking lowers all your inhibitions, you're actually more likely to eat more than you'd planned when you're drinking, as well.

However, if you need a drink, you might want to consider wine instead of beer. It doesn't necessarily have fewer calories, but it has health benefits that beer may not. Also, it's a sipping drink, not a chugging drink.

Let's face it: beer isn't associated with a beautiful body. 6-pack abs and a beer belly are two entirely different things!

Looking to find out how your brew stacks up? This beer calories by brand chart may have the answer.

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