We normally do not get to nutritional or technical when looking at beers. Most people look for the specials to fill up a plastic cup and go from there. In this post we look at mostly what’s inside but also the flavor. Why not look at a beer by the ingredients such as things other than Lite. This is a way of judging beers from the nutrition label standpoint including the best-tasting) options. The survey rated The Healthiest Beer on Earth to be Sam Adams Light but let’s look at some other beers. There are so many interesting beers on this list that you might just want to try and see if you are hooked or not!
Boston Beer Co.’s “light” option is one of the few to far exceed its labeling. The rich feel in your mouth, toasty malts, and zippy hops are almost as robust in this light lager (119 calories) as they are in its big brother, Samuel Adams Boston Lager. For a bottle you can find in about any supermarket cooler, you won’t do better. 119 calories.
Upland Blackberry Lambic
The blackberries that make up most of the flavor profile of this beer are packed with health-boosting polyphenols and anthocyanins that can help stave off cancer and heart disease. But if you want a bottle, you’re gonna have to line up: The Indiana craft brewery that makes it takes reservations once a year for the special release, and you have to pick up your haul in Hoosier land. Contains Blackberries and only 189 calories.
Lambrucha
A Chicago couple combined his love of Belgian lambics with her fondness for fermented kombucha tea to create Lambrucha, a tart, funky, lemony brew with a dry finish. At just 3.5 percent alcohol by volume and with all the good-for-you stuff that kombucha drinkers swear by — vitamins B and C, as well as help with digestion and blood circulation — this beer’s a standout with 105 calories.
Special ingredients: Green tea kombucha
Porterhouse Oyster Stout
Vegetarians be damned, Ireland’s Porterhouse Brewing Co. is one of the few breweries that still use actual oysters in the making of their oyster stout. Bivalves and malty stout beers have been paired for meals since the 18th century, but it wasn’t until 1929 that a New Zealand brewery thought to put them together in a single glass. Porterhouse Oyster Stout gives you all the protein- and mineral-rich properties of oysters without the fishy taste with 144 calories.
Special ingredients: Oysters
Short’s Spruce Pilsner
I love the way the hop-forward flavors of this pilsner dance with the bold, forest-like flavors from the spruce needles. And in case you didn’t know, spruce is known to help poor circulation, stress, and joint stiffness — so drink up… only 210 calories.
Special ingredients: Michigan Blue Spruce tips
Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat
You remember what we said about wheat beers, right? Add to that the superfood powers of pomegranate, and you’ve got yourself a pretty healthy beer from the Fort Collins Brewery. Contains 145 calories with a special pomegranate juice ingredient.
O’Fallon Black Hemp Black Ale
Missouri’s O’Fallon Brewery imports toasted hemp seeds from Canada to make this black ale (the feds even make them test to ensure the seeds contain no THC, the euphoria-producing compound in marijuana). The seeds add a nutty flavor to the beer, and they’re said to be heart-healthy and can lead to lower blood pressure. Contain 174 calories with Toasted hemp seeds.
Left Hand Good Juju
Eastern healers have long preached the medicinal properties of ginger, citing it as a homeopathic cure for everything from headaches to diabetes. We’re not saying you won’t get a hangover if you drink too many Good Jujus, but the fresh root that goes into each batch lends a pleasant flavor that’s not dissimilar from unsweetened ginger ale. Packed with 131 calories. Added Ginger.
Stone/Ishii/Baird Japanese Green Tea IPA (276 calories)
Okay, maybe this is more charitable than healthy, but California’s Stone Brewing Co. teamed up with Ishii and Baird Brewing to create this beer to aid Japan’s earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. The IPA, set to be released in mid-July 2011, clocks in at 9 percent ABV. It’s brewed with antioxidant-rich green tea as well as a new variety of hops called Aramis, grown in France’s Alsace region. Some Japanese Sorachi Ace hops are also thrown in for good measure.
Special ingredients: Japanese Sencha green tea, Aramis and Sorachi Ace hops
Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus (150 calories)
This gorgeous beer (with an equally scandalous label — click “view larger” to see what we mean) from Cantillon, one of Belgium’s best and most respected breweries, will dispel any thought you have about fruit-based beers being syrupy-sweet or, dare I say, “girlie.” When fresh, the crisp, tart, vitamin C-loaded raspberry flavors shine. With a few years of age, the sour notes from this wild-fermented lambic become more pronounced, yielding an even more brilliant concoction.
Special ingredients: Raspberries
Three Floyds Gumballhead (195 calories)
A recent study by American and German researchers found that wheat beers can help runners fight off muscle inflammation and respiratory problems. But you don’t have to be a runner to enjoy the health benefits of Gumballhead, a refreshing, citrusy beer that’s one of the best wheat ales brewed in the U.S.
Special ingredients: American red wheat
Guinness Draught (126 calories)
The Guinness ad guys were a little overzealous with their old “Guinness is good for you” campaign. Still, I love to see the look of surprise on people’s faces when I tell them that the creamy, malty Irish dry stout is actually pretty low in calories (126) and alcohol (4.2 percent).
He’Brew Rejewvenator ’10 (246 calories)
Simply put, Shmaltz Brewing Co.’s beers are full of shtick, as is the case with this doppelbock-dubbel hybrid brewed with 600 gallons of Concord grape juice (the kind used in the Passover-friendly Manischewitz wine). Gimmicky or not, this beer really tastes good, proving that grape juice is just as deliciously healthful in beer as it is in wine.
Special ingredients: Concord grape juice
I.C. Light (96 calories)
Surprisingly, this light lager from Pittsburgh doesn’t taste like water. At only 96 calories and about 4.1 percent alcohol by volume, it’s a solid choice for warm weather that won’t weigh you down.
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