Beer comes in all sorts of different styles, each with its own unique ingredients. Unlike food products, brewers aren’t required to disclose much nutritional information. In fact, they don’t even have to know what’s in their products!

But now a new FDA regulation requires chain restaurants to list nutritional info for all their menu items, including beer. Suddenly, brewers may have to reveal what’s in their beer.

Transparency is a good thing. Last year, through the efforts of the Beer Institute, many breweries agreed that by the end of 2020 they will voluntarily start listing their calories, carbs, and alcohol by volume right on their bottles and cans.

But for now, we have to rely on figures compiled by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which did some exhaustive testing last year on the calorie count of a variety of alcoholic drinks.

 

Which Beers Have the Most Calories?

So what have we learned? Which beer is going to have to biggest impact on your waistline?

Not surprisingly, in general craft beers have the most calories. Most of the calories in beer come from alcohol, and some Triple IPAs and Stouts with more than 8% alcohol contain over 300 calories. Fruit flavorings also add calories to many beers.

Of the 18 beers with less than 100 calories, all had less than 5% alcohol content. They also have very little taste, but hey, sometimes you have to make tradeoffs!

List of the Highest Calorie Beers

Best Damn Apple Ale 180
Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale 180
Blue Moon White IPA 180
Omission Pale Ale 180
Samuel Adams Boston Lager 180
Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat 180
Shock Top Raspberry Wheat 180
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 180
Sierra Nevada Porter 180
New Belgium Ranger IPA 190
Samuel Adams Octoberfest 190
Samuel Adams Winter Lager 190
Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter IPA 190
Ballast Point Sculpin India Pale Ale 200
Leffe Blonde (11.2 oz.) 200
Omission IPA 200
Samuel Adams Rebel IPA 200
Sierra Nevada Stout 210
New Belgium Trippel Belgian Style Ale 220
Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale 230
New Belgium Rampant Imperial IPA 230
Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA 240
Allagash Black Belgian Style Stout 250
Founders Breakfast Stout 270
Victory Golden Monkey 270
Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout 320

 

How can you get great beer taste for under 100 calories?

Did you know there is a product that makes light beer taste great? Mad Hops Flavored Beer Drops transforms the taste, color and aroma of any light beer. It adds just 5 calories per serving, and is carb-free.

We’re not saying it turns a Bud Light into a craft beer, but the hops, malts and bitters in Mad Hops increase its depth and complexity, then we add a variety of flavorings to create our Pale Ale, Irish Porter, and four fruit varieties: cherry, apple, lime and blueberry.

It’s a great option for diabetics or anyone on a diet who find options like Bud Light and Michelob Ultra watered-down and tasteless. It also dramatically improves the taste of non-alcoholic and gluten-free beer.

Tasting is believing! So try Mad Hops for yourself!