How Much Alcohol Is in a Light Beer?
Light beers are the best-selling beers in the U.S.
All of the top three best-sellers in the U.S. are light beers. The best seller is Bud Light, which shipped 29.4 million barrels, the second is Coors Light, which shipped 14.9 million barrels, and third is Miller Lite which shipped 12.6 million barrels in 2018.
Light beers contain fewer calories and alcohol.
The term light in light beer typically refers to a beer that contains fewer calories, and therefore less alcohol since most of the calories in a beer comes from the alcohol. For example, a can of Budweiser contains 146 calories and 5% ABV, while its counterpart Bud Light contains 110 calories and 4.2% ABV.
Miller Lite was the first light beer to become popular.
While Coors Brewing Company was the first to use the term light in their Coors Light in the 1940s, Miller Lite was the first successful mainstream light beer in the U.S. Miller Lite was first developed in 1967 but wasn’t introduced nationally until 1975.
Today, most beer companies offer a light beer variant in their products and market it as the “light” version of their regular beers. Examples of such companies are Sam Adams Light, Coors Light, Heineken Light, and Miller Light.
In other parts of the world, such as Scotland and Australia, the term light beer refers to those with only have 3.2% alcohol content.
Most light beers contain around 4.2% alcohol.
Although in many cases, light beer is marketed to have lower alcohol content than regular beers, it does not necessarily mean that it is much lower. Regular beers often have around 5% alcohol content, while most light beers sold in America have approximately 4.2% alcohol content.
Here’s a table that shows the alcohol content in light beer among the popular brands in the United States:
| Brand | Alcohol by Volume (ABV) |
| Bud Light | 4.2% |
| Coors Light | 4.2% |
| Corona Light | 4.1% |
| Heineken Light | 4.2% |
| Keystone Light | 4.13% |
| Sam Adams Light | 4.3% |
Drink light beer if you want to get drunk slower.
One of the major benefits of light beer is its lower ABV helps slow down your intoxication.
Another reason why many opt for light beer is because of its lower caloric content. This feature of light beer is why it is so popular for people on a diet or health-conscious.
Although light beers contain less alcohol and fewer calories, we still recommend you drink them in moderation because they will cause intoxication and hangovers.
If you want to avoid a rough morning after having a few too many drinks try Rallymate!
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.