There's Money to Be Made in Low ABV Beer

Or so it would seem. Over the last decade or so, in tandem with the war against carbohydrates, brewers have been decreasing the number of carbs and calories in beer. This has led to such brand extensions as Michelob Ultra, Budweiser Select, MGD 64, and a myriad of other beers with tiny calorie numbers and virtually no carbs.

What no one ever explains to these lovers of the ultra lights is that, unless you're dumping a large number of flavor additives into your mainstream "original" beers, the biggest source of calories and carbs is from alcohol. When a brewer cuts calories, he or she is most likely reducing the alcohol content. You pretty much have to. Because the hops and barley malts (and rice) really don't account for much, and the process of fermenting beer requires sugars for the yeast to digest. Which is why non-alcoholic beers are so low in calories. No alcohol = no significant source of sugars, and thus, carbohydrates. Which begs the question: Aside from Erdinger, why are no non-alcoholics advertising themselves as health beverages or alternatives to fake-sugar sodas and juices? My guess is that no one would believe them if they made that claim.

All of that aside, it would seem that, during the race to the bottom in terms of calories, the major brewers noticed a more-than-appealing trend: When people drink ultra-light beers, they have to drink more of them to get drunk.

This, I think, is why some of them are priced so low. The margin per-bottle is low, but the volume people buy them in is more than enough to cover the smaller margin. This explains, it would seem, the shift by other major brewers, foreign and domestic, to decrease the ABV in their flagship "regular" brands. Stella Artois has already done this, dropping their ABV to 4.4% from 5%. Perhaps not much of a shift, but you don't fiddle with your recipe for no reason, especially when its "been around" since 1366.

What has always been a curious concept for me, as a lover of fine beers from all over the world, is the logic of drinking a light, or ultra light, beer, to save money and calories. It is, in fact, much more cost-effective, efficient and delicious to drink three or four high ABV IPAs, Imperial Stouts and the like, than it is to down 10-12 light or ultra light beers. And in the end, the calories you consume are about the same. So is the funny feeling in your head.

Of course, that would mean going against what the TV box tells me to do and exploring beyond what is known. It is a lot easier to stick with what you know, even if it is a bland, watery, low quality, low-alcohol mockery of beer.

Just my two cents.