Beers hit a new low with carbs

October 29, 2003

DON CAZENTRE, STAFF WRITER

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This, apparently, is what the world has been waiting for: Beer you can drink on the Atkins diet.

Low-carbohydrate beer is brewing's latest trend. (Remember Lite, Dry, Ice, etc?)

This one's hot. Anheuser-Busch led the way with low-carb Michelob Ultra, introduced last fall. It's already listed among the nation's top 15 best-selling beers.

In the last few weeks, Rolling Rock joined in with Rock Green Light and Utica's F.X. Matt Brewing Co. launched Accel. All display the words "low carbohydrate" prominently on the label.

Michelob Ultra and Rock Green Light each have 2.6 grams of carbohydrates per 12-ounce bottle; Accel has 2.4 grams. By contrast, a 12-ounce Budweiser has 10.6 grams.

Miller Lite has 3.2 grams of carbs. This, by the way, seems to be the reason Miller hasn't joined the new low-carb beer parade. Miller instead has started advertising that Lite, on the market since the 1970s, has always had few carbohydrates.

The new low-carb beers, predictably, have little flavor and almost no body. It's easy to see why they would be popular, say, in a hot dance club. It's almost like drinking water, except for the alcohol content.

Low-carbohydrate beers seem to hover in the range of 4 to 4.2 percent alcohol by volume. That's about on par with Miller Lite or Bud Light but about a percentage point lower than domestic premium brands, such as Budweiser or Miller High Life.

So what's driving the trend to low-carb beers? Clearly it's the same market factors that are producing everything from low-carb chocolate to "zero carb" vodka (see the recent ads for UV Vodka).

"We see a lifestyle change happening out there," said Matt Brewing vice president Fred Matt, whose company decided to enter the low-carb market this summer and produced its first batch last month. "People are looking to do things that are more positive for themselves."

Matt said he crunched some numbers and found a few that caught his attention: There are between 15 million and 30 million Americans on low-carb diets, and light beer is the only beer category that's still growing.

When sales of Michelob Ultra took off, Matt got the message.

Accel (short for "accelerate") is aimed at young, active drinkers who aren't looking for bold flavor in their beers.

That's why Matt chose not to market Accel under the brewery's Saranac label. Saranac is a line of flavorful and full-bodied beers.

In a side-by-side tasting with Rock Green Light and Michelob Ultra, Accel seems to be the "cleanest"-tasting. In other words, it has less identifiable flavor. Green Light and Ultra seem to have mild hints of the flavor of the beers they're derived from: Rolling Rock and Michelob.

Still, the most noticeable thing about these beers is there's not much to notice.

Getting a brewer to explain how low-carb beers are made is a daunting task.

In relatively simple terms, brewers use a longer "mash," which is the step in brewing in which fermentable sugars are extracted from the grain. That's followed by longer fermentation, in which more of those sugars are fermented out.

"When you get the sugars out, you get the carbs out," is the explanation from Fred Matt.

And if getting the carbs out is more important to you than full flavor, these are the beers for you.

Don Cazentre is an assistant city editor for The Post-Standard. He is a homebrewer and a member of the Salt City Brew Club. He can be reached at 470-2297 or send e-mail to citynews~syracuse.com