Sugar & Calories in Beer, Stout & Cider
Would it surprise you to know Coors light and Heineken have exactly the same calories and carbs? Shown here is the sugar and calorie content in popular beers, stout and ciders. If like me, you like to drink alcohol you’ll be interested to see the results I found.
All beers, stouts and ciders were unfortunately high in calories & some were also high in carbs too. A pint of beer has between 210 & 240kcals, similar to a mars bar (244kcals).
I’m not here to talk about the rights and wrongs or damage alcohol causes, you’re an adult and that’s for you to decide. I’m just hoping to help people make more informed choices about what they drink and in what quantity. Like most things in moderation, they are ok for most people. However, for someone wishing to lose weight it would decrease your chances of losing weight, if you choose to drink any beer, stout or cider to excess.
The Reality Check
For Example:
- 6 bottles of Heineken have 714 calories & 54g of carbs (18x 3g sugar sachets you’ll know from coffee shops)
- 6 pints of Budweiser has 1398 kcals & 102g of sugar (34 sugar sachets)
- 10 pints of Bulmers cider is 2100 kcals & 230g of sugar (77 sugar sachets)
Workout what you’d have on a night out, then how much per week?
Light Beers
Its good to know that there are lower calorie and lower sugar alternatives available with Heineken Light, Bud Light and Bulmers Light now being widely available. They do make a significant difference.
The Light Beer Difference
However light beers are usually heavily processed and most likely contain artificial sweeteners among other things. It was interesting to see regular Heineken and Coors Light have the exact same calories 119kcals per 330ml bottle.
Complete Breakdown
Heineken
Heineken LightLIGHT
Budweiser
Note: Smaller 300ml bottle size
Coors Light
Paulaner
Erdinger Weißbier
Guinness
Surprisingly lower than many lagers
Bulmers Original
Bulmers LightLIGHT
Bulmers Pear
Put It In Perspective
8 Pints of Heineken =
In Conclusion
It seems beer, cider and stouts are high calorie drinks and should be treated as occasional treats. Eight pints of Heineken has almost the same number of calories as 7 Mars bars or 8x 500ml bottles of Coke…
A Word on Labelling
It’s worrying to think that governments place little or no importance on the labelling of alcohol, its ingredients or nutritional values but even a bottle of water has to have its contents detailed down to the macronutrient…
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