Lo-cal drinks

Eglinton

Ok folks, I realise that most of you frown up these type of drinks (Coors Lite, Miller Lite etc) but I was just wondering if they are actually healthier for one's self. I drink but not for the taste and I'm slowly growing to dislike Heineken and Carlsberg etc. I like a drink to socialise and for a little dutch courage but don't want the beer belly and it's already starting to form!! So what's the deal with these drinks? I do occasionally like Pilsner beers and going to the Porter House but for weekend drinks I'd prefer to go down the healthy (er) road if possible. So any opinions?

xzanti

Weight watchers do lovely low fat wines.. I also drink Bulmers Light which tastes a little watery but if you're trying to lose weight theres not much else you can really do apart from just not drink...

I saw on some program that beer had been proven not to be very fattening... The reason a lot of people gain weight from going on the beer is from the burgers and kebabs they eat on the way home from the boozer... Dont know how reliable that is so dont quote me on that.. Makes sense though IMO

Also Vodka and a diet mixer would be vertually fat free AFAIK....

Are you going on a diet or just doing some research ???

Eglinton

I'm not going on a diet or tryin to lose weight really (although a bit would be nice). Just want a healthier lifestyle. Generally cut down on drink I suppose. I know that vodka and diet mixers are fat free but they're not too good on the liver or the wallet. I also don't get in anyway drunk on spirits and they're too easy to drink fast. Good point about the kebabs and other crap though.

rubadub

xzanti wrote:

Weight watchers do lovely low fat wines..

Low calorie wine, there is no fat in beer or wine or spirits (except maybe some strange liquers or baileys with its cream). I remember my mates looking at the nutritional values on coor lite saying the same thing "look no fat". It is calories you worry about, if you take in more energy than you use up it is converted to fat by the body.

Anyways, the lite beers are simply brewed more so all of the sugars are converted to alcohol. Miller lite was called miller pilsner over here, knowing Irish men wouldnt be seen drinking a "poncy diet beer"! Pilsner beers are bitter because all of the malt sugars are fully fermented, that is why they are generally stronger too. So your lite beers have less malt to begin with, it is brewed completely so it looks and tastes more watery than most, it is usually 4.2-4.3% the same as your standard heineken or carlsberg, but the hein & carls still has unfermented sugars so has more calories. Good vodka should have no added sugar and is simple pure alcohol. Some (usually cheap) vodkas and whiskies and other spirits put in glycerine and sugars to smoothen out the poor spirit they produced.

I would stick with your decent pilsners or change to spirits, I dont like diet drinks so would have a flavoured vodka (no sugar) and soda, or maybe a hint of blackcurrant vodka and soda.

You say you are concerned about health, (good) vodka would be the healthiest drink well mixed with soda water. Quality vodka has no bad cogeners (nasty hangover stuff) or other alcohols in it, skyy is the cleanest vodka I have ever tasted.

Vodka is expensive, 10 vodkas in a pub is only about 6 pints worth of beer alcohol wise, that is probably why you say you don't get drunk on it, many people think they are equivalent to a pint, far from it.

Eglinton

Vodka is expensive, 10 vodkas in a pub is only about 6 pints worth of beer alcohol wise, that is probably why you say you don't get drunk on it, many people think they are equivalent to a pint, far from it.

Good point. Hadn't thought about it like that. I just tried working it out off the top of my head there. I'm not 100% about the initial figures but it's probably roughly accurate. A shot of Vodka is about 37ml and 40%. A pint is about 560ml and 4.5%. This means there is 15ml of alcohol in the shot of vodka and 25ml in the pint. This is before the vodka is watered down with a mixer which will have a slight effect on the potency. As you say Vodka is very expensive and an even more expensive way to get drunk. But I suppose I don't really want to get really drunk, just have a nice social drink with moderate effects. So I might go with your suggestion of vodka and soda or blackcurrent etc. Not sure how the guys will take in the rounds though, hehe. But if it's anyway healthier at all, good stuff.

Not familiar with Sky Vodka, where is it available. How good is Smirnoff and Huzzar by comparison?

rubadub

You simply multiply the percents and mls to get a figure.

shot of smirnoff
35.5mlx37.5%=1331
pint of heineken
568mlx4.3%=2442. so there is 1.83times more alcohol, but usually only 10-25% more in price, guinness especially. And then theres the extortionate price of mixers. Coke is 20 times more expensive than in tescos! The teenagers must be smuggling in soft drinks to the pubs these days.

Skyy is in only a few offies, it is expensive, usually €35 for a 700ml a bottle which is expensive I wouldnt buy it, I always pick it up in duty free, got a litre for €11 in holland. It is not great straight, since it is so clean it is bland, it is PERFECT for cocktails and mixers where you want no taste. It pisses on smirnoff red. I wouldnt clean my boot with huzzar!
If you want a reasonably priced quality/"premium" vodka I would recommend smirnoff black. It is far far better than the smirnoff red, totally smooth.

Other good ones that cost a little more in offlicences, and strangely in pubs they are either the same price as smirnoff or a huge amount more.
stolichnaya (best value for the quality)
absolut (absolut citron is nice too)
wyborowa
finlandia
grey goose (always dear, €45 a bottle in an offy)

Attol

For some reason I had gotten the impression that I should drink beer instead of spirits and diet mixers for low calories. Oops... At least now I can fix that mistake. Also beer makes me feel so full so I end up feeling totally bloated after like a can.

steveland?

I may be wrong but most of the world beers with quality assurances (such as German beers with their purity laws) are better for you that something such as, let's say, Miller, Carlsberg, Heineken, Budweiser...

I don't know about the calorie content but they'd have less chemicals and "bad stuff" than the mainstream beers...

Try something like the Weltenberger Pilsner (German) or Pilsner Urqel (Czech afaik... can't remember)

xzanti

rubadub wrote:

Low calorie wine, there is no fat in beer or wine or spirits (except maybe some strange liquers or baileys with its cream). I remember my mates looking at the nutritional values on coor lite saying the same thing "look no fat". It is calories you worry about, if you take in more energy than you use up it is converted to fat by the body.


Sorry I meant calories

Thomas_S_Hunterson

steveland? wrote:

I may be wrong but most of the world beers with quality assurances (such as German beers with their purity laws) are better for you that something such as, let's say, Miller, Carlsberg, Heineken, Budweiser...

I don't know about the calorie content but they'd have less chemicals and "bad stuff" than the mainstream beers...

Try something like the Weltenberger Pilsner (German) or Pilsner Urqel (Czech afaik... can't remember)

I think the German purity laws are now largly abolished

rubadub

sean_keevey wrote:

I think the German purity laws are now largly abolished

how do you mean? that beers in germany do not have to be brewed to the Reinheitsgebot?
This may be true as I see budwieser are sponsoring the world cup and it is certainly not beer!
But even if it is not enforced many still do it, lots of breweries do it. Grolsch who are dutch brew to the laws. It means there are no additives in the beer like stabilizers, and no crap like rice and potatoes like budweiser use which give relatively high amounts of methanol and other nasty crap in their beer.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

rubadub wrote:

how do you mean? that beers in germany do not have to be brewed to the Reinheitsgebot?
This may be true as I see budwieser are sponsoring the world cup and it is certainly not beer!
But even if it is not enforced many still do it, lots of breweries do it. Grolsch who are dutch brew to the laws. It means there are no additives in the beer like stabilizers, and no crap like rice and potatoes like budweiser use which give relatively high amounts of methanol and other nasty crap in their beer.

Yes, it is no longer a legal obligation, but as you correctly said, many beers still do and advertise as such

steveland?

sean_keevey wrote:

Yes, it is no longer a legal obligation, but as you correctly said, many beers still do and advertise as such

Yeh have a look on the bottles. Most of them that do adhere to the purity laws (or guidelines since they don't seem to be enforced anymore) say such on the back of the bottle