We bring tidings of comfort and joy: You don’t have to give up your daily brew to cut carbs and calories in the new year. And you don’t even have to go solely for the watery near-beers of yesteryear’s dieting fads. Instead, take a closer look at what adds calories to your favorite drinks
Is it the water? Of course not. The yeast, or the hops? Nope (though they’re important for flavor, as we’ll see). But the malt—there’s our culprit. After a winter of heavy, malty beers, it can be quite refreshing to switch up to lighter, hoppier, and fresher bevs. So check out this list. We’ve collected 15 of the best low calorie beers on offer today, all for your drinking pleasure.
Goose Island So-Lo IPA
One of the biggest downfalls of the last generation of low calorie beers was that they had a thin, underwhelming mouthfeel. But that’s due in large part to how little of each ingredient actually went into the beers. With the continuing trend in big, hoppy IPAs, brewers have a whole new set of tools at their disposal for making lo-cal beers—as evidenced in Goose Island’s So-Lo IPA. It uses such generous portions of Idaho 7, Mosaic, and Chinook hops that it comes out at an aggressive 35 IBUs, even while clocking in at just three percent ABV. That gives this brew enough flavor and texture to compete with any light beer, and makes for an easy way to keep drinking your favorites even while cutting calories.
New Belgium The Purist Clean Lager
Lagering—the process of storing beers at cool temperatures after they’ve been fermented with a particular yeast strain—is a tried and true method of getting the cleanest, purest flavors out of malt and hops. But New Belgium is taking this a step further with their new edition of The Purist, a self-described “Clean Lager” that’s USDA certified organic. That’s quite the feat to pull off on its own, but then combine that with the fact that each can has just 95 calories, and you get a go-to choice for health-conscious folks who still like to share a good brew now and again.
Yuengling Light Lager 99
Did you know that the Yuengling brewery is America’s oldest continuously operating brewery? It’s true—since its founding in 1829, the Pennsylvania powerhouse has continued cranking out dozens of beer styles, even taking a detour in the dark ages of Prohibition to sell milk while brewing for “medicinal purposes” on the side. Their amber lager is the face of the company at this point, but lo-cal dieters shouldn’t overlook their Light Lager 99. As the name implies, this crisp and refreshing beer comes in at just 99 calories; but it packs more caramel malt flavor than you might expect, and still feels like you’re drinking a real beer.
Ballast Point Wee Gus Hoppy Lager
So you have your lagers: Crisp, refreshing, cold-stored for maximum development of clean flavors. Then you have your IPAs: Big, bold, hoppy. What happens when you mix a dash of each of those into a low-cal beer? Something truly wonderful. Ballast Point’s Wee Gus is a “Hoppy Lager”—a combination of the crisp malt notes of a lager with a generous portion of dry-hopping for floral, herbal, and peppery flavors and aromas. At just 95 calories, it still has a respectable 4.2 percent ABV that puts it ahead of many beers on this list. And that’s because it has an absolutely bone dry finish, without a hint of malt sugar left behind.
Dogfish Head Slightly Mighty Lo-Cal IPA
You may know Dogfish Head by their claim to fame IPAs, in 60 minute, 90 minute, and 120 minute editions. Which is to say: These brewers know what they’re doing when it comes to balancing malt and hops in a beer. They’ve carried over this expertise into their Slightly Mighty Lo-Cal IPA, which is currently the number one selling low-cal IPA in America. The secret here comes from an alternative sweetener popular in the health food community. Monk fruit, native to China and Thailand, lends a distinct body and character to this beer’s aromas and flavors of citrus and tropical fruit.
Avery Brewing Pacer IPA
Most hazy IPAs are real bombs when it comes to calories. They’re often both heavier on the residual sugars and on the alcohol content, which isn’t doing favors to anybody’s waistline. That’s why Avery Brewing’s Pacer IPA is something truly special: It’s a densely hopped hazy IPA that comes in at a friendly 100 calories and 3.5 grams of carbs. The head brewer, Adam Avery, calls it a “selfish endeavor” in that he made the beer for himself—a guy that’s in the drinking business, but still wants to carve out a healthy lifestyle for himself.
Victory Easy Ringer Low-Cal IPA
Pennsylvania’s Victory Brewing has made a name for themselves based on high gravity, intensely flavorful beers like Golden Monkey, Sour Monkey, and Brotherly Love. So what happens when they turn away from their heavy-handed approach and make a light, crushable session IPA instead? It turns out their Easy Ringer Low-Cal IPA is pretty darned amazing. At just 96 calories, it’s still loaded with hop flavor and a good bit more bitterness than you usually get out of this style. A passionfruit and citrus finish puts the icing on the lo-cal cake and invites you back to have just one more.
Bell’s Light Hearted Ale
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale has been one of our favorite IPAs for a long time, owing to its complete reliability and consistency of flavor. The Double Two Hearted Ale, if you can find it, takes all the success of its originator and pumps up the alcohol—and calorie—content. But for the health-conscious drinker, Bell’s has a new offering: Their Light Hearted Ale. It’s rare that a beer is so true to its name, but this one really stacks up. It’s incredibly easy drinking, with Centennial and Galaxy hops to give it a classic citrus and pine finish.
Michelob Ultra Pure Gold Lager
Mich Ultra was low-cal beer before low-cal beer was cool, and their Pure Gold Lager takes it to the next level. Let’s be entirely honest here: You’re not drinking this beer for its complex flavors and aromas. You’re drinking it because 1. It tastes a lot better than water, and 2. Every bottle has 85 calories but still comes in at 3.8 percent ABV. Plus, you won’t have to explain a darned thing to anyone else at the bar as to why you’re drinking a diet beer—that’s just how this beer is, and no one really questions it.
Back Pew Brewing Hyper Light Lager
If you hold Back Pew Brewing’s Hyper Light Lager up to your eye on a sunny day, all you’ll see is a clear picture behind it (albeit in a pleasant shade of gold). This is an American lager at its finest: Light, crisp, pale, and fresh. It comes in at 95 calories, but still has a respectable 4.2 percent ABV because dieting doesn’t mean you can’t still get day-drunk from time to time. It also has one of the lowest carb contents of any beer on this list (just 2.6 grams per can) thanks to a full fermentation of the malt’s sugars.
Lagunitas DayTime IPA
Offering one of the highest IBU ratings of any session beer on this list, Lagunitas’s DayTime IPA is a diet beer for true IPA lovers. It’s absolutely jam packed with citrus, tropical, and pungent herbal notes, and finishes with a crisp dryness that other beers just hope for. As the name implies, it’s designed for all-day drinking; trade this out for your six pack of higher-gravity IPAs, and you’ll save quite close to 100 calories per beer. That really adds up over a few months of drinking.
Firestone Walker Flyjack
The crisp and hazy Firestone Walker Flyjack lo-cal IPA has no corner unfilled by hops. In the kettle, Cascade and Callista hops give pine, citrus, berry, and stone fruit undertones. That would be enough to carry any standard beer, but then the mad brewing geniuses at Firestone Walker go for a raucous combination of El Dorado, Chinook, Mosaic, Strata, Sabro, and Idaho 7 for a dry hopped finish. It’s ridiculously full-flavored for being under 100 calories, and an easy recommendation for any hazy IPA fan.
New Holland Lightpoint White Ale
Easily the biggest outlier on this list, New Holland’s Lightpoint is described by the brewers as a “functional white ale.” In the tradition of white ales, it’s brewed with a few adjunct ingredients—in this case, coconut water, raw honey, and orange peel. The resulting beer is tremendously refreshing in a way that’s totally different from the IPAs and lagers on this list, and will become a favorite of anyone who enjoys wheat beers and Belgian ales.
Harpoon Rec. League
Harpoon’s Rec. League is the beefiest of the beers on this list at 120 calories per can, but it’s completely worth the dieting splurge. An innovative combination of buckwheat kasha, chia seeds, and sea salt gives it an incredibly full-bodied texture and flavor, with an unbeatable thirst-quenching capability. Honestly, this one tastes good enough that it’s worth replacing IPAs with even outside of dieting season.
Evil Twin Brewing Bikini Beer
If it’s less the calories and more the alcohol that you’re looking to cut back on, check out Evil Twin’s Bikini Beer. At just 2.7 percent ABV, it’s the lowest alcohol beer on this list—but still quite drinkable thanks to its generous addition of hops throughout the brewing. Start drinking it now, and you’ll have a great head start on bikini season.
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