How Many Calories Are in Beer? The Ultimate Guide

Alcohol contains calories while offering little to no nutritional value — after all, when you drink a brew, you're really only getting calories from carbs and alcohol. So how many calories are in a beer? Ultimately, the amount of calories in beer depends on the type, brand and how much alcohol the beer contains.

The typical beer serving size is 12 ounces, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism — and most brands offer both cans and bottles in this size.

While a 12-ounce light beer can be a low-cal choice with about 103 calories, regular beer can be significantly higher, at 153 calories — and high-alcohol and craft beer can clock in at up to 350 calories per serving, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Before cracking open a cold one, check out this guide to the carbs and calories in beer.

A Pilsner, Beck's beer was first brewed in the 1870s by Heinrich Beck in the Bremer Kaiser brewery in Germany, according to the brand website.

Even today, Beck's brews its beer according to the German Reinheitsgebot (or purity law), which limits brewers to four ingredients: malt, hops, yeast and water.

Blue Moon is a Belgian-style white beer that contains coriander, orange peel, oat and wheat, which lends the brew a fruity taste that's refreshing for summer.

The brand recommends garnishing the ale with an orange slice to heighten the citrus notes and flavors.

Budweiser, brewed by Anheuser-Busch in multiple locations across the U.S., is one of the top-selling beers in the country, according to Beer Marketer's Insights. Budweiser is a medium-bodied, American-style lager that's brewed with barley malt, hops and rice.

Both a can and a bottle of Bud Light are 12 ounces. You'll get about 147 calories in a pint of Bud Light (16 ounces).

Fun fact: Busch beer was the first that Anheuser-Busch released after Prohibition, in 1955. In those days, the brew was called Busch Bavarian — it wasn't known as Busch beer until 1979.

Busch beer is made from just four ingredients: water, barley, rice and hops. You'll get 95 calories in a can of Busch Light.

Coors Light was introduced by the Coors Brewing Company in 1978 as a response to the nation's growing interest in fitness and nutrition. Because the silver-toned can caught the eyes of many Americans, the brew soon earned the nickname "Silver Bullet."

A 12-ounce can of Coors Light contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 102
• ‌Total carbohydrates:‌ 5 g, 2% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content:‌ 4.2% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

Coors Light — with the "Cold as the Rockies" tag line — is based in Colorado. Coors Light is made with water from Rocky Mountain springs, Moravian barley malt, hop extracts, lager yeast and corn syrup (not high-fructose corn syrup).

There's no sodium in Coors Light. You'll get about 136 calories in a pint of Coors Light. Regular Coors has 149 calories per 12-ounce can, or about 198 calories per pint.

Launched in Mexico in 1925, this popular brand, often served with lime, is one of the top imported beers in the U.S.

Corona is brewed with barley malt, non-malted cereals and hops.

Corona also offers 12-ounce hard seltzers — in Pineapple, Strawberry, Raspberry and Passionfruit flavors — that contain 90 calories, 0 grams of carbs and 0 grams of sugar each.

Their Corona Hard Seltzer Limonadas, inspired by the traditional Mexican Limonada, come in Lemon Line and Strawberry flavors and contain 100 calories as well as 3 grams of carbs and 3 grams of sugar.

Golden Monkey, produced by the Victory Brewing Company (a craft brewery) in Pennsylvania, is a Pilsner boasting notes of banana and clove, balanced with earthy hops. The Sour Monkey is more tart, with notes of citrus.

The iconic green bottle beer has been brewed since 1873 and is made with barley, hops, water and a unique yeast. About 25 million Heineken beers are served daily across 192 countries, per the brand website.

A 12-ounce bottle or can of Heineken Original contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 142
• ‌Total carbohydrates:‌ 11 g, 4% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content‌: 5% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

You'll get about 197 calories in a pint of Heineken.

Hoegaarden (pronounced "WHO-garden") beer hails from Belgium, where it was first brewed by monks from the Hoegaarden area around 1445, per the brand site. Legend has it that the monks added orange peels and coriander to their sour wheat beer, eventually developing the famous recipe that exists now.

Today, about 90 percent of all the wheat beer in Belgium is from Hoegaarden, and the brand is sold across Europe, North America and Australia, as well as in Singapore and China.

A 12-ounce bottle of Hoegaarden contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 159
• ‌Total carbohydrates:‌ 11.7 g, 4% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content‌: 4.9% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

Because it contains barley and wheat, Hoegaarden is not gluten-free (like most beers).

The number one beer in India, Kingfisher was first brewed in 1857 by Castle Breweries in Mysore, according to the brand site. In the 1970s, the beer went international, and today, the brewing company is known as United Breweries.

A 12-ounce bottle of Kingfisher beer contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 141 calories
• ‌Total carbohydrates:‌ 11.3 g, 3% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content‌: 4.8% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

You'll get 188 calories in a Kingfisher beer per liter (16 ounces).

Produced by Anheuser-Busch, Natural Light (also affectionately known as "Natty" Light) was introduced in 1977 as the company's first reduced-calorie light beer, according to the brand site. To this day, it remains one of the best-selling light beer brands in the country, per American Craft Beer.

A 12-ounce can of Natural Light contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 95
• ‌Total carbohydrates:‌ 3.2 g, 1% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content‌: 4.2% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

Newcastle Brown Ale was first released in the 1920s in Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom, where it quickly spread in popularity. Today, it's the world's leading brown ale, according to the manufacturer, Heineken.

A 12-ounce bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 142
• ‌Total carbs:‌ 12 g, 4% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content‌: 4.7% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

Red Stripe is a lager-style beer brewed and bottled in Jamaica. Famous for its 11.2-ounce "stubby" bottles — with its characteristic diagonal red stripe — Red Stripe beer has grown in popularity throughout the world since it was first brewed in 1928.

The beer is made from Pilsen malt, hops, cassava starch and water. An 11.2-ounce serving of Red Stripe contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 139
• ‌Total carbohydrates:‌ 12 g, 4% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content‌: 4.7% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)

A favorite among American beer drinkers, Samuel Adams comes in both staple and seasonal varieties. The classic, though, is their Boston Lager, which debuted in 1984.

Brewed in the town of Shiner, Texas (population: 2,069), Shiner beer has been available in the U.S. since 1909. The brewery offers many options, including black lager and blonde ale.

Stella Artois beer has roots in the Den Hoorn brewery, which was founded in Leuven, Belgium in 1366. According to the brand's history, the beer was first brewed as a gift to the townspeople (the name "Stella" means "star" in Latin ).

Even today, the beer is brewed under the supervision of the brewmasters in Leuven, Belgium.

Tecate is a light beer that's been brewed in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico for more than 60 years, according to the brand site. Today, the brand offers a number of beers, including Tecate Original (also referred to as Tecate red because the can is red), Tecate Michelada, Tecate Light and Tecate Alta.

Erdinger Weissbier (translation: "white beer") hails from Bavaria, Germany. A wheat beer, the brew blends spicy wheat aromas with slightly bitter hops and is left to mature in its bottle (the same way as Champagne) to help preserve it better.

A 12-ounce bottle of Erdinger Weissbier contains:

• ‌Calories:‌ 156
• ‌Total carbohydrates:‌ 9 g, 4% Daily Value (DV)
• ‌Alcohol content‌: 5.3% Alcohol By Volume (ABV)