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Beer/Simple sugars or other?

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Expert: - 11/14/2011


Question
Hi Matt,

I've been looking into the nutritional breakdown of beer, and have worked out that it's calories come from roughly half ethanol and half carbohydrates (or something like that) with a tiny percentage from protein.

What I'm trying to work out is where exactly the carbohydrates are coming from. Is it residual (unfermented) sugar? or maybe starch or cellulose?


Cheers.

Answer
Hi Christian,

Apologies with the tardiness of my reply, but I've been extremely busy for quite some time now. In fact, I'm writing this, while on an international business trip!

That said, to make this short, there are really only two places from which you may real calories from a beer - the alcohol (ethanol) and the malt. Obviously, the malt produces sugars (already broken down from starches in the mash), which are used to feed the yeast, which turn it into said alcohol and CO2 (among other things).

So you hit the nail on the head. It's the residual malt sugar that produces the calories. The fact is that "light" beers, are extremely dry, owing their lack of body to intentional thinning by the brewers, to reduce calories. Less malt sugars, less calories, drier beer.

Hope this helps!


Matt

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Matt Simpson

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I can answer all questions about beer, the brewing process, ingredients, history, styles, glassware & serving temperatures, beer & food pairing, cellaring, the craft beer industry and much more. The only area in which I'm wholly unfamiliar (but still able to find out through direct, personal inquiry) is the purchasing of large-brewery equipment.

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I've been involved with craft beer, in one regard or another, for almost 2 decades. I've taught craft beer courses at Emory University, I'm a BJCP Certified Judge, an Administrator for RateBeer.com (arguably, the largest beer website/database in the world, with over 100,000 members) and have been interviewed by ABC News, CNN, NPR, the Washington Post, FOX Business’s Cavuto Show, TheStreet.com, the Associated Press, the Houston Chronicle and many others. I'm an award-winning homebrewer, with multiple ribbons won (including the AHA’s National Homebrew Competition), and owner of one of the largest, most robust and comprehensive beer cellars in the world. I write the “Ask Beer” column for Beer magazine, “Beer Talk...From the Wings,” for Hooters Magazine, the quarterly beer column for In The Mix magazine, a beverage-oriented publication that reaches such hospitality industry establishments as The Four Seasons and Four Points Sheraton, and “Ask the Beer Sommelier,” for Atlanta’s Finest Dining magazine as well. I've been hosting craft beer tastings since the 90’s, and am truly privileged to call some of the most accomplished brewers and beer aficionados in the world, friends.

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BJCP, RateBeer.com (as an Administrator), GA Craft Brewers Guild, Final Gravity Craft Brewers.

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BEER Magazine, Hooters Magazine, In The Mix Magazine, Atlanta's Finest Dining magazine, TheBeerCellar.com.

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I'm BJCP Certified, taught "From Grain to Glass, a Comprehensive Study of Beer," at Emory University and a Rutgers University graduate.

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Multiple blue ribbons for homebrewing, including a second-place in the National Homebrew Competition.

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http://www.thebeerexpert.com/testimony.shtml

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