St. Patrick's Day Drinks: Choose Wisely!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today, everyone is Irish, and what better way to celebrate your Irish heritage than by heading to your local pub for a pint with friends and family? But before you toast with that glass of green beer, consider what you’re actually drinking.

Understanding Beer Calories

A common misconception among beer drinkers is that dark beers, like Guinness, contain more calories and are more filling than lighter varieties. However, this is often not the case. The color of a beer comes from the roasted barley used in brewing. Barley is roasted to different extents depending on the desired beer type, similar to how coffee beans are roasted (lighter roasts generally contain more caffeine, while darker roasts have less).

Interestingly, roasting the barley cooks the sugars used to ferment beer and produce alcohol. Generally, the longer you roast a malt, the less sugar remains, leading to lower alcohol production during brewing. Therefore, despite popular belief, many darker beers contain less alcohol because the malt used to brew them has less residual sugar.

The Calories Behind Alcohol

Now, let’s break down the calories: a gram of carbohydrate or protein has 4 calories, while a gram of fat has 9 calories. Alcohol, on the other hand, falls in between at 7 calories per gram. Don't be fooled by the color or type of beverage; it’s the alcohol content that contributes most significantly to the calorie count.

To put it in perspective, a 1.5oz shot of most pure liquor, 6oz of wine, or 12oz of beer are nearly equivalent in terms of caloric density. This is due to the varying alcohol percentages—liquor, wine, and beer typically contain about 40%, 13%, and 5% alcohol by volume, respectively.

Comparing Guinness and Budweiser

Take a 16oz pint of Guinness, for example, it contains only 4.2% alcohol and 170 calories. In contrast, a 16oz pint of Budweiser has 5.0% alcohol and 193 calories. You might argue, "But I drink Bud Light!" A pint of Bud Light is 4.2% alcohol and also has 170 calories.

Before opting for that artificial green, flavorless glass of mass-produced, fermented rice (like Budweiser), consider the caloric equivalent in a smooth, full-bodied pint of Guinness, made with the time-honored tradition of Arthur Guinness and Sons’ original recipe of dark roasted barley, European hops, and sweet Irish morning dew.

This St. Patrick's Day, make an informed choice about your drink. Raise a pint of Guinness, knowing it’s rich in flavor and relatively low in calories compared to other options.