Is non alcoholic beer high in sugar?
No, non alcoholic beer is not high in sugar. In fact, the average non alcoholic beer would be classed as low sugar in food labelling laws.
The UK has a traffic light system for nutritional values.
A low-sugar drink contains less than 2.5g of sugar per 100ml
A medium-sugar drink contains 2.5g to 11.25g of sugar per 100ml
A high-sugar drink contains more than 11.25g of sugar per 100ml
The average non alcoholic beer comes un under the low-sugar level, meaning the the average non alcoholic beer is low sugar.
How much sugar is in non alcoholic beer?
Now for the exact amount of sugar in the average non alcoholic beer. I conducted a study
into over 100 beers that i have reviewed on this website.
I found the average non alcoholic beer has 2g of sugar per 100ml and 7.2g of sugar per 12fl oz.
So you can see, at 2g per 100ml, the average non alcoholic beer comes in as a low sugar drink according to the UK traffic light system.
But averages only tell you so much don’t they? What about some other interesting values of non alcoholic beer and sugar.
What is the range of sugar in alcoholic beer?
The lowest sugar non alcoholic beers actually are sugar free. That’s right, they contain zero sugar. You can read my article on them by clicking the link.
From zero, the highest sugar non alcoholic beer i drank has 9.9g of sugar per 100ml and 35.1g per 12fl oz. This puts it into the top end of the medium sugar drink but still not into a high sugar drink level.
Are there many low sugar non alcoholic beers?
There are indeed a lot of really low sugar non alcoholic beers. The general non alcoholic beer sugar average is dragged up by fruit beers and sour beers which do contain quite a bit of sugar, but there are plenty of really low sugar options, if not sugar free.
I wrote an article highlighting 50 super low sugar non alcoholic beers and they top 10 to try, it is worth a look if you want a low sugar non alcoholic beer.
Below is the table of the 50 lowest sugar non alcoholic beers.
| Beer | Score/10 | Type | ABV % | Sugar/100ml | Sugar/12fl oz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partake Pale | 7 | Pale ale | 0.3 | 0 | 0 |
| Bitburger 0.0% | 9 | Pilsner | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lucky Saint 0.5% | 8.5 | Lager | 0.5 | 0.01 | 0.0355 |
| Carlsberg 0.0 | 8.5 | Pilsner | 0 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Budweiser Zero | 5.5 | Lager | 0 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Rothaus Tannenzäpfle 0.4% | 9 | Pilsner | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Nanny State | 9 | Ale | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Drop Bear Tropical IPA | 5.5 | IPA | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Drop Bear Yuzu Pale Ale | 6.5 | Pale Ale | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Nirvanan Hoppy Pale Ale | 6.5 | Pale Ale | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Minus | 9 | IPA | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Uptime | 6.5 | Lager | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Fieldhopper | 6 | Golden Ale | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Drop Bear New World Lager | 4 | India Pale Lager | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Pine Trail | 8.5 | Pale Ale | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Ghost Ship 0.5% | 6.5 | Pale Ale | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| UNLTD. | 9 | IPA | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.355 |
| Furstenberg Pils 0.0% | 7 | Pilsner | 0 | 0.16 | 0.568 |
| Becks Blue | 8 | Pilsner | 0 | 0.2 | 0.71 |
| Drop Bear Bonfire Stout | 7.5 | Stout | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.71 |
| Southwold Pale Ale | 5.5 | Pale Ale | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.71 |
| Esmeralda | 4 | Cerveza with Tequila | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.065 |
| Infinite Session IPA | 9 | IPA | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.42 |
| Infinite Session Lager | 8.5 | Helles Lager | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.42 |
| NEIPA The Cosmic Turtle | 8 | NEIPA | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.42 |
| Infinite Session Best | 7 | Best Bitter | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.42 |
| Are Wheat There Yet | 5.5 | Wheat | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.42 |
| A Ship Full Of IPA | 8 | IPA | 0 | 0.5 | 1.775 |
| Drink’in in the sun | 8 | Wheat | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.775 |
| Incel “Skippers” | 9 | Pilsner | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.775 |
| Incel “Surfers” | 9 | Summer Ale | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.775 |
| Incel Swimmers | 7 | Saison Ale | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.775 |
| Incel Snorkelers | 5 | Salt IPA | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.775 |
| Wildtrack | 5.5 | APA | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.13 |
| Guinness 0.0 | 9 | Stout | 0 | 0.7 | 2.485 |
| Corona Cero | 7 | Lager | 0 | 0.7 | 2.485 |
| Stella Artois Alcohol Free | 7.5 | Lager | 0 | 0.8 | 2.84 |
| Flensburger | 7.5 | Radler | 0.5 | 0.8 | 2.84 |
| Coba Maya | 8.5 | Lager | 0.5 | 1 | 3.55 |
| Super Bock | 7 | Lager | 0.5 | 1 | 3.55 |
| Doom Bar Zero | 8 | Ale | 0 | 1.1 | 3.905 |
| Free Star | 4.5 | Lager | 0 | 1.1 | 3.905 |
| Leffe Blond 0.0 | 7.5 | Belgian Abbey Ale | 0 | 1.1 | 3.905 |
| Birra Moretti Zero | 6.5 | Lager | 0 | 1.2 | 4.26 |
| Run Wild | 9 | IPA | 0.5 | 1.2 | 4.26 |
| Heineken 0.0 | 6 | Lager | 0 | 1.3 | 4.615 |
| All Out | 6.5 | Porter | 0.5 | 1.3 | 4.615 |
| Pica Nova | 7 | West Coast IPA | 0.3 | 1.4 | 4.97 |
| Upside Dawn | 7 | Golden Ale | 0.5 | 1.4 | 4.97 |
| Schneider Weisse Tap3 | 9.5 | Wheat | 0.5 | 1.5 | 5.325 |
How much sugar is in alcoholic beer?
So how does alcoholic beer compare to non alcoholic beer? Which one is the highest in sugar to do you think?
The USDA state the average alcoholic beer has 0g of sugar per 100ml and 0g of sugar in a 12fl oz serving.
Now, i am sure you will be able to find alcoholic beers with some fraction of sugar in them. Not least the stouts and porters of this world which can have the animal sugar, lactose added. Lactose does not undergo fermentation so is in the finished beer as sugar. It adds sweetness, body and a silky finish.
But, overall, alcoholic beers have little to no sugar and certainly have less sugar than the average non alcoholic beer.
Why is there usually no sugar in alcoholic beer?
How exactly do alcoholic beers manage to have no sugar? The answer is in how they are made.
At a certain point in the brewing process, the “wort” contains a lot of sugar from the barley (or other grain). However during fermentation, the yeasts turn to sugars into alcohol. The more sugar you start with, the higher the concentration of alcohol will be at the end.
In general, the yeasts keep turning sugar into alcohol until there is no sugar left, hence, most alcoholic beers are sugar free.
How do the sugar in non alcoholic beer compare to other drinks?
We have seen that non alcoholic beer does have more sugar than alcoholic beer but still stays in the “low sugar” bracket.
For soem more context, we can look at how much sugar is in other popular drinks and you can make your own mind up as to what is low sugar or not.
Below is a list of other common drinks…
| Type of Drink | Sugar per 100ml | Sugar per 12fl oz |
| Non alcoholic beer | 2g | 7.2g |
| Alcoholic beer | 0g | 0g |
| Coca Cola | 9g | 32g |
| Coca Cola Zero | 0g | 0g |
| 1% milk | 5g | 17.75g |
| Orange juice | 8g | 28.4g |
| Gatorade | 6g | 21.3g |
| Ginger Ale | 9g | 31.95g |
I think that non alcoholic beer, in moderation, can certainly be looked on as low sugar and if you go to the trouble of picking one of the lower sugar options, then they are definitely at the bottom of the low sugar zone.
Happy drinking!
