Low calorie beer is somewhat of a sensitive topic in the beer world. This is because beer that is low in calories is also probably low in flavor as well as alcohol content. This, then, begs the question: “why bother?” Nonetheless, “lite” beer continues to reign among the top selling brands in America: Bud Light, Miller Light, and Coors Light, are always among the best-selling beers in the country. There are always newer versions of lite beer in development at any given time too.
The “lite” beer industry is somewhat of an anomaly for exactly that reason: that it is very successful despite the fact that it is somewhat insensible. However, there is another strange thing about low calorie beer that you might not expect: that the number of calories you save by drinking ‘lite’ beer really does not justify the fact that you pay the same amount of money for it. At least, this is the case with the most popular brands since smaller microbreweries may be able to regain some of their flavor while still offering a somewhat ‘lighter’ brew.
For example, among the top-selling beer brands in the United States, Bud Light, Miller Light, Coors Light, and Michelob Ultra all consistently rank within the top ten year after year. (It is important to note that their “full-bodied” versions also rank as high or higher). That said, though, it should make you wonder why they are so popular because these low calorie beer options do not have a depth of flavor and are not necessarily strong in alcohol content either.
The issue, then, must have something to do with a health-conscious society – one that wishes to do the best they can with the choices available. In the case of beer, then, many Americans opt for the low calorie beer option in hopes that it will justify straying far from their diet in the first place. The irony, though, is that the amount of calories you ‘save’ when choosing Bud Light over Budweiser is easily burned off during the amount of time it takes to consume one bottle of beer. Therefore, by you would take in about half a bottle more-worth of calories drinking four Budweiser bottles than you would drinking four Bud Light bottles.
What are you going to do about the calories that are common to both regular beer and the low calorie beer? Probably nothing, since it is likely that you will end the night with a restless sleep and not a thirty minute jog around the park to burn them off. However, many people do appreciate the “lite” option as it does help to reduce the amount of overall calories and carbohydrates that you take in. If you are, in fact, on a diet and watching those precious calories, it is sometimes just nice knowing that option is available. Although the margin may be small, the piece of mind it provides to you, as a consumer, may be more than enough to compensate. That, after all, is what you really want in the first place.
