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What the hell do beer companies mean by ‘less filling’ when advertising ‘lite beer’?
I’m not a beer drinker and I’ve always found this description confusing. A can of ‘lite beer’ contains the same amount of liquid as a can of regular beer, so it should fill your stomach just the same. Are they referring to the calorie content? Do they mean that it doesn’t ‘fill’ your allowed calorie quotient as fast? Or does ‘lite beer’ digest faster for some reason, so that you can drink twice as much in the same amount of time? (And pee twice as much, too, I expect.)
I’m afraid I don’t quite get it - if ‘less filling’ means you can drink more of it without getting fat, wouldn’t ‘lite beer’ be the most popular beer on the market? Or is the alcohol content less than regular beer? But if that’s the case and you are drinking beer to get a buzz, wouldn’t you just drink more of it and therefore negate any calorie savings?
I’m not much of a beer drinker - maybe this description makes sense to those who drink it more often?
So . . . if I understand you correctly . . . what you are telling me is . . .
‘lite beer’ sucks?
Having never tasted it myself, I’m quite willing to take your word for it. I did try some Billy Beer way back when - tasted like a men’s outhouse smells.
Since the two of you (ChiefScott and Rysdad, of course!) have obviously tried it - why did you? Curiosity? Trying to reduce your calorie intake? Hoping you would be able to drink twice as much without getting ‘filled up’?
Personally, I think a better slogan would have been ‘Lite Beer - get tanked up without getting filled up!’
Well, beer (as well as other foods and drinks) has what’s known as “mouthfeel” and “body.” To get a good demonstration of this, drink one of the aforementioned “lite” beers.
Watch it closely as you pour it into a glass. Really pay attention to the way it feels in your mouth. Light beer is pretty thin. Swish it around in your mouth a bit. Take a couple of big swallows. Smack your lips. Take a good breath through your mouth. And so on. This has been a demonstration of LACK OF mouthfeel and body.
Now drink a heavier beer, like say an Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, or a good Doppelbock, or a Barleywine like Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot. Watch it as it pours. Looks almost syrupy. Swish it around in your mouth. Almost seems to coat your teeth. Take a couple of big swallows. Feels heavier, doesn’t it? Smack your lips. Taste the lingering bitterness and sweetness. Take a good breath through your mouth. This has been a demonstration of ABUNDANT mouthfeel and body.
Alternative demonstration for non-drinkers:
Drink a quart of nonfat milk. Now drink a quart of half-and-half.
The thing these folks are advertising is that their beer is light and less satiating. You will feel less satisfied after drinking one of these beers. This enables people to knock back a sixpack and still want dinner. I promise you that only the most enthusiastic beer drinkers could put down a sixer of Bigfoot or Old Rasputin. Not only would the drinker be blitzed (both of these beers are about 9% abv), but he (or she, to be P.C.) would feel full, bloated, and uncomfortable. Yet it’s the same volume of liquid.
Thank you, Jo3sh! Not only did you answer my question, but you made my mouth water, and I don’t even like beer! I guess I’ve never tried any really good beer . . .
Hmm, maybe a more honest slogan would be ‘Drink our lite beer - it’s so light, you’ll drink a six-pack before you know it!’ Rip-off.
Geez, justwannano and coosa, you make me blush. Thanks for the compliments. Me? no, I’m not a beer salesman, I just really like beer. I’ve brewed my own, and I have a minor hobby in visiting breweries and tasting beer from around the world. Coosa, if you feel you may be missing something from not having tried any “really good” beer (and Billy beer ain’t it), I urge you to keep trying. I realize that beer is not loved by all, but with the revolution in craft brewing taking place in the US right now, there is an enormous variety of beer in the marketplace. Light, dark, spiced, fruit-flavored, Belgian, German, English, bottled, draft, lager, ale… Man. Now I’m thirsty. Seriously, I feel there’s something for practically everybody by way of beer these days. Hell, if you decide that beer’s not for you, try cider. Sweet, dry, apple, pear, peach, sparkling, or still, there’s quite a bit out there in that realm, too.
But I do recall Cecil addressing the question of lite beer vs. regular beer in some respect. I’m not sure, though, whether or not the column in question has been posted to the webpage, or whether it’s available only in one of the books (don’t remember which book either).
I do recall that Cecil concluded that you actually had to drink more lite beer to get drunk, so you ended up consuming more calories.
Well, I just wanted to see what it tasted like. I’ve tried a couple of ‘lite’ beers, and none of them showed me much. They taste more like sour, fizzy water than beer.
By the way, the worst of all was a “lite ice” beer. Ptui.
The reason you would try a lite beer is that if you consider yourself an avid beer drinker, you want to try as many types as possible so you can choose your favourite.
My father, for instance, cannot drink ales, but lagers are fine. I personally don’t care for lite beers, but have tried many different brands.
The only reason to try a lite beer is to not offend your host who has actually bought a case of the stuff and is handing it out in place of actual beer.
The stuff is not nauseating, just weak tasting. When I fear that I will be offered lite at a picnic or family get-together, I just smuggle in some real beer.
I’ll agree with what tom and all the rest of the light beer haters said. And now that I’ve done that, I’ll contradict myself and recommend Amstel Light to anyone wanting a (nearly) full-flavored light beer.
The answer to DRY’s question. Pages 348-349 of my edition of the first Straight Dope books has this to say about alcohol content of light beers:
3.6 to 3.8 percent alcohol by weight for “regular” American beers and 3.2 to 3.4 percent alcohol by weight for “light” American beers.
I don’t drink beer much (maybe a half dozen times a year), and don’t need to watch the calories, so I never drink lite beer. But I do recall Cecil writing that lite beer actually has less alcohol content, which (to me) made it pretty pointless, even excluding the alleged inferior taste.
the “fulfillment” you get from eating, drinking or consuming food in any other manner is affected by the amount of “sugar” in the consumed product.
you do not become full because your stomach is full, but because the sugar level in your blood has reached a certain percentage.
you are hungry because you need sugar in your blood, and you are full because you have enough sugar in your blood. the feeling “stuffed” are aches in your stomach because its muscles are trying to contain the food consumed.
so, lite beer does not contain as much sugar as regular beer. which totals to less fillment. (jo3sh is also correct, but in a different way).
carbonhydrad(i think this is the right one) contains 4 kcal.
protein contains 4 kcal
ethanol(alchohol) contains 7 kcal
fat contains 9 kcal
