How Many Calories in Beer? (Chart)

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
Bock Beer	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
Budweiser	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
IPA	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.

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