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We get a surprising number of requests for an estimation of the number of calories in our recipes. I say surprising, because the caloric content of my beer has never been of central importance to me. Color, Bitterness, and ABV are all numbers that I tend to focus on, because they speak more to the flavor of beer than a count of calories or carbohydrates. As such, my standard answer to questions like these is often, "if you need to ask, it's probably too many."
In part, this answer is also a practical one. Because no two homebrews are exactly alike (even if they come from the same recipe), there is always a bit of variation in the numbers. IBUs (International Bitterness Units, a measure of the bitterness of beer), ABV, and color (reported in SRM, or Standard Reference Method), in the scheme of things tend to remain fairly consistent, however. The IBU level in a can of Malt Extract is pretty much fixed at the brewery where they are produced, and as such there is very little variation in the amount of bitterness in every batch of beer born from those malts.* Likewise, the density of the Malt and net weight of each can are carefully controlled at the brewery as well, so the amount of sugar going into each batch is also quite consistent as well. This translates to very little variation in the ABV of a given recipe (though there are other factors which can influence ABV, and we'll get to them later). The color of the malt (and the beer that's brewed from it) has a bit more variation than ABV or IBUs, but it is fairly predictable. As malt ages it tends to get darker at a fairly constant rate. At the same time, the color of the Wort lightens up a bit as it ferments. This loss of color varies from brewery to brewery, but should be consistent (and minimal) at your individual home brewery.
Environmental factors (temperature and available oxygen at pitching time, primarily) can affect the degree to which the brewer's Yeast is able to convert every last bit of sugar in a batch of beer, which can affect both the ABV of a beer and the amount of calories it contains. In terms of ABV, this effect is pretty minor. In terms of calories and carbohydrates, the effect is a bit more pronounced.
This makes it a bit more difficult to put a number on the calories or carbs contained in a glass of homebrew, but we can still get into the ballpark. Standard brew packs have about 140 calories per 12 oz serving, while Deluxe and Premium brew packs have about 150; give or take 5 or 10 calories per serving.
I'm still not convinced that we, as beer lovers, should REALLY care about the nutritional value of our beer, though I must confess that over the years I've made some arguments that would suggest that we should.
First, for hundreds of years (if not longer), beer has been highly regarded for its food value. Fasting monks didn't call it liquid bread for nothing, after all. It really wasn't until about the 20th century that beer became widely regarded as a less-than-wholesome luxury, with no social or nutritional value. Coincidentally (perhaps not?), as America recovered from prohibition and our opinion of beer bottomed out, most brewers were brewing beer that matched public perception: pale and light in flavor, brewed with adjuncts that diminished the nutritional and food value of the beer.
Second, I've long been a proponent of enjoying beer with food. Beer and food go so damn well together... the flavors of beer are so complex and varied that they're able to mesh with the things on our plate in ways that no other beverage category can. Might that be because beer has more in common with foods than other beverages (i.e. it IS a food)?
Finally (and this is the kicker), I'm always telling people how good beer is for you. Especially homebrew. The USDA lists the following as standard reference values for a 12 oz serving of beer:
| Water | 327.4g* | | Calories | 153* | | Alcohol | 13.9g* | | Protein | 1.6g* | | Carbohydrate | 12.6g* | | Fat | 0.0g | | Cholesterol | 0.0g | | Calcium | 14mg | | Magnesium | 21mg | | Phosphorous | 50mg | | Potassium | 96mg | | Sodium | 14mg | | Niacin | 2mg | | Folate | 21mcg | As you can see, there is more to it than just alcohol, water, empty calories and carbs. Is that Folate I see? Don't they put that in vitamins?
In fact, folate and other vitamins in beer have been found to reduce the risk of heart disease (moderation is the key). Additionally, studies have suggested that beer can help increase bone density in women (please, that's no joke), and can increase good cholesterol in both men and women.
All this considered, maybe we should think about the nutritional value of our beer. Even if we can't have every batch analyzed for its specific nutrient content, perhaps we can at least take comfort in the fact that the beer we love is wholesome, despite what some might suggest. And perhaps that's reason enough to raise another glass. I don't know about you, but any excuse is good enough for me!
*Some bittering compounds are always absorbed by yeast and settle out with the Trub at the end of Fermentation, which does create some minor variation from batch to batch.
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