Is it worth it to sacrifice taste and/or increased inebriation to save calories when drinking beer? And, is there any difference between the calorie content of a typical beer from a micro-brewery and a beer from Anheiser Busch? And, finally, is “Lite” beer really all that much lighter than its non-lite counterpart?

To satisfy my own questions on this pressing matter, I did some heavy-duty research. According to this web site, which lists the caloric and alcoholic content of roughly 100 domestic beers, Busch Lite actually has the least amount of calories at 95 calories for a 12-ounce can. Busch Lite has an alcohol content of 4.1%, which is not bad for a “Diet Beer” and is usually one of the cheapest beers available. Unfortunately, it is also one of the worst tasting beers I have ever consumed. I think I drank it on a camping trip ten years ago and the bad taste still hasn’t left my mouth.

In contrast, Bud Lite has 110 calories and has an alcohol content of 4.2%, while Coors Lite has 104 calories and an alcohol content of 4.15%. In my inexpert opinion, neither Coors Lite or Bud Lite would rank too highly in terms of taste, but for pennies more a can they have to better than Busch Lite.

In general, the amount of alcohol seems to be roughly proportionate to the number of calories in the beers. New Belgium Trippel, for example,  is on the opposite end of the spectrum; the micro-brew has 7.8% alcohol content and 215 calories. This leads me to believe that a preference for better beer may be a contributing factor in the increasing waistlines of people in their 30’s.

For those of you wishing to truly understand just how many calories you are consuming when you drink beer, you should take a look at the BBC’s handy Drink Calorie Converter site, which converts drinks into their food equivalents in terms of calories. If you drink more than one beverage on any given day, the results of the Drink Calorie converter are guaranteed to shock you.

This handy site also contains hard liquor and cocktails. A chocolate martini comes in at 438 calories and a frozen margarita has 738 calories- I guess I’ll be sticking to beer afterall.

pic thru flckr