Is alcohol-free beer lower in calories?
Yes – one of the major benefits of alcohol-free and 0.5% beer versus standard ale and lager is that it contains fewer calories than its alcoholic equivalent, which makes it less fattening.
This is because pure alcohol contains 56 calories per unit (7 calories per gram). This means that a pint of 4% ABV beer contains 129 calories from alcohol alone.
However, while alcohol-free beer is lower in calories than alcoholic beer, it’s not completely calorie-free.
Calories in alcohol-free beer
In this article, we’ll look at what calories are and how an alcohol-free beer’s ingredients affect how many calories it contains.
We’ll also look at how many calories are in your favourite alcohol-free beers, ales and lagers and highlight the lowest-calories alcohol-free beers available.
What are calories?
Calories are a way of measuring the amount of energy in food and drink. When we consume more calories than we burn off, our bodies store this energy as fat.
Calories in food and drink come from four sources:
- Protein – 4 calories per gram
- Carbohydrates (including sugar) – 4 calories per gram
- Fat – 9 calories per gram
- Alcohol – 7 calories per gram (or 56 per unit)
Non-alcoholic beer vs non-alcoholic beer calories
There’s no fat in beer, so the calories in it come from alcohol, carbohydrates and protein. As there’s little to no alcohol in alcohol-free beer, it’s much lower in calories than an equivalent alcoholic beer.
For example, there’s:
- 225 calories in a 500ml bottle of standard Adnam’s “Ghost Ship” (4.5%) vs 115 in a 500ml bottle of Adnam’s “Ghost Ship Alcohol-Free” (0.5%)
- 139 calories in a 330ml bottle of standard Heineken (5%) vs 69 calories in a 330ml bottle of Heineken “0.0” (0%)
- 122 calories in 330ml bottle of Carlsberg (3.8%) vs 73 calories in a 330ml bottle of Carlsberg “0.0” (0%)
- 132 calories in a 330ml bottle of Bitburger Pils (4.8%) vs 73 calories in a 330ml bottle of Bitburger “Drive” (0%)
The number of calories in alcohol-free beer varies depending the amount of carbohydrates and protein it has, which depends on its base ingredients and how it’s produced.
For instance, wheat beers tend to have more protein while beers that have been fully fermented before having the alcohol removed will have less carbohydrates (in the form of sugar) than beers that use a yeast that doesn’t ferment all available sugars.
Also, some alcohol-free beers contain up to 0.5% alcohol. This equates to about 15 calories per pint in addition to the calories provided by protein and carbohydrates.
Therefore, while alcohol-free beers are generally lower in calories than beers that contain alcohol, the actual amount of calories varies.
Non-alcoholic beer vs non-alcoholic drinks calories
As well as being lower in calories than standard beer, alcohol-free beer has fewer calories than many alternative soft drinks.
For example, tonic water and skimmed milk have about 37 calories per 100ml, while orange juice has about 43 calories per 100ml and Coca Cola has about 42 calories per 100ml.
Meanwhile, most alcohol-free beers have about 8 to 35 calories per 100ml. So while you won’t get some of the nutritional benefits that come with drinks like fruit juice and milk when you drink alcohol-free beer, it’s still a handy low-calorie alternative.
Alcohol-free beer has its own nutritional benefits too.
Identifying how many calories are in an alcohol-free beer
It’s usually easy to find out how many calories are in your alcohol-free beer.
In Europe and the UK, alcohol-free beer producers must include the calorie content on the packaging (some smaller producers are exempt). In the US, this is optional but many do so voluntarily.
Calories will usually be listed as “kcals” (kilocalorie). The metric equivalent is “kj” (kilojoules), so you might see that listed too. 100 kcals equal 418 kj.
The label will tell you how many calories there are in 100ml or 100g of beer. It might show how many in total are in the bottle or can too.
Lowest-calorie alcohol-free beers (per 100ml)
Here’s how many calories are in the beers I’ve reviewed (plus a few others), starting with the lowest-calorie alcohol-free beers.
Under 10 calories per 100ml
- Brewdog “Nanny State” (0.5%) pale ale – 8
- Nirvana Brewery “Karma” (0.5%) pale ale – 9
- Mikkeller “Henry and His Science” (0.3%) pale ale – 10
- Mikkeller “Racing Beer” (0.3%) lager – 10
- Nirvana Brewery “Sutra” (0.5%) IPA – 10
11-20 calories per 100ml
- Furstenberg “Alkoholfrei” (0.5%) pale lager – 11
- Infinite Session “IPA” (0.5%) India pale ale – 11
- Infinite Session “Pale” 0.5%) American pale ale – 11
- Infinite Session “Pils” (0.5%) pilsner – 11
- Jever “Fun” (0.5%) pilsner – 13
- Mikkeller “Weird Weather” (0.3%) New England IPA – 13
- M&S “Southwold (0.5%) pale ale – 13
- Athletic “Upside Dawn” (0.5%) golden ale – 14
- Big Drop Brewing Co “Lager” (0.5%) lager – 14
- Budweiser Budvar “B:Free” (0.5%) pale lager – 15
- Mikkeller “Drink’in the Sun” (0.3%) American pale wheat beer – 15
- Nirvana Brewery “Tantra” (0%) pale ale – 15
- Lucky Saint “Unfiltered Lager” (0.5%) lager – 16
- Mikkeller “Energibajer” (0%) wheat beer – 16
- Sainsbury’s low-alcohol “Czech” (0.5%) pilsner lager – 17
- Big Drop “Citra Pale Ale” (0.5%) pale ale – 18
- Rothaus “Non-Alcoholic Tannenzäpfle” (0.4%) pilsner – 18
- Thornbridge “Big Easy” (0.5%) pale ale – 18
- Wellbeing “Heavenly Body Golden Wheat” (0%) wheat beer – 19
21-30 calories per 100ml
- Athletic “Run Wild” (0.5%) IPA – 20
- Bernard “Amber Ale” (0.5%) – 20
- Big Drop Brewing Co “Pale Ale” (0.5%) pale ale – 20
- “Fitbeer” (0.3%) hellas lager – 20
- Heineken “0.0” (0.05%) pale lager – 20
- Innis and Gunn “Innis and None” (0%) pale ale – 20
- Leeds Brewery “0PA” (0%) pale ale – 20
- Nirvana Brewery “Kosmic” (0%) stout – 20
- Pistonhead “Non-Alcoholic Flat Tire” (0.5%) lager – 20
- Franziskaner “Alkoholfrei” (0.5%) wheat beer – 21
- Schneider Weisse “Alkoholfrei” (“Tap 3”) (0.5%) wheat beer – 21
- Bitburger “Drive Alcohol-Free” (0%) – 22
- Carlsberg “0.0” (0%) lager – 22
- Guinness “Kaliber” (0.05%) pale lager – 22
- “Old Speckled Hen Low Alcohol” (0.5%) – 22
- Adnams “Ghost Ship Alcohol Free” (0.5%) pale ale – 23
- Paulaner “Non-Alcoholic Hefe Weisse” (0-0.5%) wheat beer – 23
- Super Bock “Preta” (0.45%) stout – 23
- Wellbeing “Hellraiser Dark Amber” (0%) golden ale – 23
- Bavaria “0.0%” (0%) pilsner – 24
- Braxzz “Barrelled Bock” (0%) bock – 24
- San Miguel “0.0” (0%) pilsner lager – 24
- St Peter’s Brewery “Without Gold” (0.05%) golden ale – 24
- Braxzz “Porter” (0%) – 25
- Erdinger “Alkoholfrei” (0.4%) wheat beer – 25
- Lidl Perlenbacher “Patronus” (0-0.5%) wheat beer – 25
- Maisel’s “Weisse Alkoholfrei” (0.5%) wheat beer – 25
- Clausthaler “Original” (0.5%) lager – 26
- Clausthaler “Unfiltered Dry Hopped” (0.5%) lager – 26
- Mikkeller “Hallo, Ich Bin” (0.1%) Berliner weisse sour beer – 26
- Stiegl “Freibier” (0.5%) lager – 26
- Big Drop “Brown Ale” (0.5%) brown ale- 27
- Braxzz “Session IPA” (0.2%) IPA – 27
- St Peter’s Brewery “Without Original” (0.05%) bitter – 27
- Lowenbrau “Alkoholfrei” (0.5%) lager – 28
- Athletic “All Out” (0.5%) stout – 28
- Big Drop Brewing “Stout” (0.5%) milk stout – 28
- Big Drop Brewing Co “Winter Ale” (0.5%) ale – 30
More than 30 calories per 100ml
- Kehrwieder “ü.NN” (0.4%) IPA – 32
- Vandestreek “Playground” (0.5%) IPA – 32
- Budweiser “Prohibition Brew” (0%) lager – 33
- Jupiler “0.0%” (0%) pilsner – 35
- Wellbeing “Intrepid Traveler Coffee Cream Stout” (0.4%) stout – 36