I actually thought of gotbeer as I was reading this, completely forgetting he'd posted this article. Go figure, right?

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Low-carb beers come up short in taste test

Dana Carpender
United Feature Syndicate
Mar. 3, 2004 12:00 AM

If I could wave a wand and magically de-carb any food, it would be good beer. I love beer, and many foods seem incomplete without it, such as barbecue or a rich, hot curry.

Sadly, the average beer has about 15 grams of carbohydrate per 12-ounce serving. You simply aren't going to be able to drink much of something like this without torpedoing your low-carb plan. Which is, of course, why there are now a few beers on the market that are being touted for their low carb content.

Michelob Ultra was the first beer to take aim at the low-carb market, and Rolling Rock now makes a low-carb beer, too. However, there are some light beers of longer standing that are also low enough in carbs for us to drink - in moderation, of course.

The time has come for a low-carb beer tasting. Tough work, but somebody's got to do it.

Here are the results, from lowest to highest carb:

• Michelob Ultra, 2.6 grams: Maybe expecting rich flavor from a beer this low in carbs is too much to ask. The most charitable comment was, "Very light taste," but that was just a nice way to say bland and boring.
• Rock Green Light (by Rolling Rock), 2.6 grams: Most of us thought Rock Green Light was a little better than Michelob Ultra, with a little more of a crisp bite and hops flavor, and with a bit more of a buzz on the tongue. Still, the bottom line was "bland."
• Miller Lite, 3.2 grams: The Grand Old Man of light beers, Miller Lite has been low carb all along. We were unanimous that Miller Lite had considerably more flavor than either of the two lowest-carb beers. The consensus was, "tastes more like a regular beer," with a nice hoppiness and fullness to it, without a bitter edge.
• Milwaukee's Best Light, 3.5 grams: Two of our guest testers felt Milwaukee's Best Light smelled bitter on pouring, and they found it to taste bitter and harsh. Our home-brewing friend suggested this might be because this was our only beer in a can rather than a bottle. My husband and I had no problem with Milwaukee's Best Light, but it's our house beer.
• Coors Light, 5 grams: Our tasters didn't find Coors Light to have the bitter aftertaste they'd noticed in other beers, and we all agreed it tasted quite similar to Miller Lite, with a similar body and hop flavor. The consensus? "Worth drinking." But since Coors Light tasted so similar to Miller Lite, I'd probably choose the beer with 1.8 grams less carb per bottle.
• Corona Light, 5 grams: This tasted "skunky," a quality you either like or loathe. We all felt Corona was fuller-bodied than the other beers we'd tested thus far, with a lot of bitter edge. Following the Corona tradition, we tried it with lime, and all agreed that this improved the beer.
• Amstel Light, 5 grams: Our pickiest taster liked Amstel Light. Indeed, we all agreed that this beer was the best of the bunch. It had a stronger grain flavor than the others and was very smooth, with a fuller flavor than most. We advise saving Amstel Light, with its 5 carbs, for special occasions.

One final note: Remember that all alcohol, no matter the carb count, will dramatically slow your body's fat-burning process. You know that more than one or two drinks a day is pushing it, right? Well, if you're having trouble losing weight, you might want to cut that back to no more than one or two a week.

Cheers!

Dana Carpender is the author of 500 Low-Carb Recipes. Reach her through her Web site, www.holdthetoast.com.