Heineken Light

kooga

I got a flyer in the door from Supervalu and it showed Heineken light, its in a white can and 4%

I know Heineken light has been available in the US for ages but its 3.3%

Just thinking out loud here but might Heineken be losing the licence for coors light ? and needed their this for their portfolio

Thanks

BeerNut

Could be! It's a rather odd situation to have Coors Light BUL for this long.

irish_goat

Saw it on Facebook the other day. Not sure what to make of it. Suppose it'll be interesting to see if Heineken drop Coors Light.

loyatemu

does the "Light" in these various light beers indicate lower calories?

oblivious

loyatemu wrote: »

does the "Light" in these various light beers indicate lower calories?

1% lover in ABV than the regular Hino, so probably

rubadub

oblivious wrote: »

1% lover in ABV than the regular Hino, so probably

In Ireland, and one other obscure country/region, heineken is 4.3%, elsewhere is 5%. So over here it seems odd to have it reduced by just 0.3%. (of course 5% imported stuff can be got in places, but official distributed heineken is 4.3%)

However heineken is a little higher in sugar than other beers, so could be lower in cals.

loyatemu wrote: »

does the "Light" in these various light beers indicate lower calories?

they are lower due to being lower %, but are also typically lower in calories per unit alcohol. In some of them they add in enzymes to convert some otherwise unfermentable carboydrates into fermentable sugars. I think this can make them taste thin or have some other effect.

kooga

I see wetherspoons here is now stocking UK Heineken at 5%

loyatemu

coors light is 4.3% - I don't think the "light" is in reference to the ABV. Bulmers Light is the same strength as regular Bulmers and their website states:

Containing fewer calories than Bulmers Original, it is enjoyed by the more calorie conscious drinker while still maintaining the 4.5% alcohol and full taste that you would expect from a Bulmers Cider.

I really don't see the point, if you're counting calories, drink wine, or vodka with a sugar-free mixer, but I guess it's not aimed at me.

JonnyM

Any special deals on it or are they same price as regular Heineken?

rubadub

loyatemu wrote: »

I really don't see the point, if you're counting calories, drink wine, or vodka with a sugar-free mixer, but I guess it's not aimed at me.

they will be around the same calories as a dry wine per unit alcohol, possibly less. Vodka and diet mixers is a very expensive per unit alcohol to drink in pubs.

And if someone says "its not all about the alcohol" then just drink half pints, if you want to count things as "calories per drink"

JonnyM wrote: »

Any special deals on it or are they same price as regular Heineken?

musgraves have it listed at the same wholesale price as normal

The photo looks like its €10 for 6 longnecks (€2.87 per pint)

Looks like a €7 for 4 cans.

kooga

Saw it on draft tonight in cork

stevexo

kooga wrote: »

Saw it on draft tonight in cork

Where abouts was that? I wanna try it

kooga

stevexo wrote: »

Where abouts was that? I wanna try it

Rob Roy

Atlantic Dawn

I don't see the point of it, your not even knocking 10% off the alcohol content, how any pub could give it a tap is beyond me. Could they not have dropped the alcohol percentage to around 2.5% to have it as an alternative beer if someone wanted to have a pint and drive? Sooner they bring in the 5% stuff the better.

kooga

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I don't see the point of it, your not even knocking 10% off the alcohol content, how any pub could give it a tap is beyond me. Could they not have dropped the alcohol percentage to around 2.5% to have it as an alternative beer if someone wanted to have a pint and drive? Sooner they bring in the 5% stuff the better.

The 5% is in wetherspoons here

Atlantic Dawn

kooga wrote: »

The 5% is in wetherspoons here

Cheers, I must sample it

odyssey06

There was an article in the Business section of today's Sunday Indo that Ireland will be the test \ launch country for Heineken Light.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/heineken-light-set-to-make-its-euro-debut-in-ireland-in-coming-weeks-34652241.html

rubadub

odyssey06 wrote: »

There was an article in the Business section of today's Sunday Indo that Ireland will be the test \ launch country for Heineken Light.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/heineken-light-set-to-make-its-euro-debut-in-ireland-in-coming-weeks-34652241.html

launched here but no word of it being a "test". I am not just nit-picking, when I read it I was surprised if it was going to be used as a test country, seeing as how its only 0.3% less here and so the calorie difference is going to be less. So I expect it might take off better in the rest of the EU where its 5%. Some 5% drinkers might switch just to have a lower % session beer.

As heineken is a little higher in sugar than most mainstream beers I wonder if they are going to use sweeteners, like they did with bulmers light. I can't find any info on the Irish 4% heineken vs Irish 4.3%, sugar levels, ingredients, calories

odyssey06

rubadub wrote: »

launched here but no word of it being a "test". I am not just nit-picking, when I read it I was surprised if it was going to be used as a test country

Yes, you're probably right, I think I should have said 'pilot' rather than 'test'. Heinken Ireland will be "developing the campaign for the global roll-out" of Heineken Light, rather than its success\failure here determining whether it'll be rolled out further.

loyatemu

as far as I can tell "light" beers are not supposed to be low-alcohol; just low calorie and low flavour. The Irish version of Heineken is fairly bland (sorry Ross); can't think how they're making it any lighter , but then Coors Light tastes of virtually nothing.

Van.Bosch

its low alcohol which is unusual compared to corona light/coors and also low calorie.

Got a few bottles a few weeks ago and thought it was brutal in terms of flavor and that is from someone who can tolerate coors etc which isn't really flavoursome.

rubadub

loyatemu wrote: »

as far as I can tell "light" beers are not supposed to be low-alcohol; just low calorie and low flavour.

It can vary. Bulmer light is trying to retain the same flavour so I expect some beers do too. I remember miller had "miller pilsner" here instead of calling it "miller lite" which would have put off the macho men, just like they came up with pepsi max and 7up zero as names rather than "diet" or similar.

Pretty sure the lower strength guinness tried to retain the regular flavour

wiki's take on it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_beer

Light beer is a beer which is reduced in alcohol content or in calories, compared to regular beers. Light beers may be chosen by beer drinkers who wish to manage their alcohol consumption or their calorie intake; however, they are sometimes criticised for being less flavourful than full-strength beers, tasting or actually being watered down

Blut2

If you're on a boozing holiday, say 7 nights in a row of drinking 10 pints, switching to 'light' instead of regular beer really does make a big difference in the calorie stakes. Heineken is about 180kcal for a pint, whereas Coors Light is only around 100kcal. Over 10 pints thats 800kcal a night of a difference, or about 3 Mars Bars!

Its just important to keep an eye on the ABV to make sure you're drinking something thats 'light' because of the calorie count and not the alcohol count.

I'm curious to try Heineken Light. In other markets light beers have become very common as levels of interest in fitness across the population have increased. But in Ireland all we've had is Coors Light for years.

Confucius say

It's a shame you can't buy low alcohol beers in Ireland like you can in the UK and some Euro countries. In England there are lots of 2.6 or 2.8% beers available in cans, same in Spain. It means you can drink them all night without getting too wasted.
Australia seem to be the kings of mid strength beer. Carlton mids... how I miss thee. There mustn't be a market for it here, apart from myself

BeerNut

Confucius say wrote: »

There mustn't be a market for it here, apart from myself

Brewers get an extra tax break for beer below 2.8% ABV so, given that there's extra money in it, they must know it's not worthwhile. Diageo seems to be the only brewery reaping the benefit, with mid-strength versions of Guinness and Carlsberg. I wonder are they as popular since the drink-drive limit was cut in 2011.

Confucius say

BeerNut wrote: »

Brewers get an extra tax break for beer below 2.8% ABV so, given that there's extra money in it, they must know it's not worthwhile. Diageo seems to be the only brewery reaping the benefit, with mid-strength versions of Guinness and Carlsberg. I wonder are they as popular since the drink-drive limit was cut in 2011.

Where is mid strength carlsberg? The mid Guinness is quite good and handy for having a pint of driving. I feel an effect after normal Guinness but not a pint of mid and drive fine after.

BeerNut

Confucius say wrote: »

Where is mid strength carlsberg?

The one time I saw it was at a golf club, so places like that, I guess.

rubadub

Blut2 wrote: »

Heineken is about 180kcal for a pint, whereas Coors Light is only around 100kcal. Over 10 pints thats 800kcal a night of a difference, or about 3 Mars Bars!

The difference is certainly not that much.

It can be difficult to find figures. Guinness is relatively low calorie and used to have 170kcal per 500ml printed on its cans. Recipes vary around the world so you cannot trust many online figures.

I have seen 5% heineken stated as 3% sugar online before, (coke is 10.6% sugar)

Tesco are good for putting figures on stuff. Their vodka is 207kcal per 100ml at 37.5%. This equates to 4.3% 568ml being 134.8kcal. So there is no way coors light at 4.3% here could be 100kcal per pint.

Confucius say wrote: »

There mustn't be a market for it here, apart from myself

I reckon there is no market since they charge around the same price, this is why I never bought a pint of guinness mid strength. I would sooner just get a regular pint and a pint of water for my next drink, rather than buy 2 pints of low strength guinness. (yes I know its not exactly half strength).

There is a weird macho aversion to buying half pints in this country, while oddly the same worried manly men will buy longnecks instead if they want to "slow down" or "take it handy" -yet they cost around the same as a pint, sometimes more.

BeerNut

rubadub wrote: »

I have seen 5% heineken stated as 3% sugar online before,

Heineken went all-malt in the mid-1990s.

rubadub

BeerNut wrote: »

Heineken went all-malt in the mid-1990s.

I mean the nutritional info would say "carbohydrate (of which sugars) 3.0g per 100ml"

It was not an ingredients list.

I won't get into weight differences due to alcohol!

This would be malt and not "table sugar".

Zaph

Blut2 wrote: »

If you're on a boozing holiday, say 7 nights in a row of drinking 10 pints, switching to 'light' instead of regular beer really does make a big difference in the calorie stakes. Heineken is about 180kcal for a pint, whereas Coors Light is only around 100kcal. Over 10 pints thats 800kcal a night of a difference, or about 3 Mars Bars!

Its just important to keep an eye on the ABV to make sure you're drinking something thats 'light' because of the calorie count and not the alcohol count.

If you're on the sort of holiday where you're drinking 10 pints a night for a week I sincerely doubt that you're going to be the sort of person who cares how many calories are in each pint.

Confucius say

Zaph wrote: »

If you're on the sort of holiday where you're drinking 10 pints a night for a week I sincerely doubt that you're going to be the sort of person who cares how many calories are in each pint.

Agreed. I found though that the mid strengths in Ozzy were great because people were always having bbq parties during day and you could drink a whole case of mids over 8 hours or so without being p*ssed or having much of a hangover.

Blut2

rubadub wrote: »

The difference is certainly not that much.

You appear to be right on the overall calorie counts. Apologies, those were the first figures I pulled off of Google. I just double checked on MyFitnessPal though, somewhere usually fairly reliable, and it gives figures of 230kcal for a UK pint of Heineken, 170kcal for a UK pint of Coors Light. So still a difference of 60kcal per pint, which is sizable enough to add up in large quantities/over time. A quiet enough night of 4 pints would be a calorie difference of 1 Mars bar.

Zaph wrote: »

If you're on the sort of holiday where you're drinking 10 pints a night for a week I sincerely doubt that you're going to be the sort of person who cares how many calories are in each pint.

You'd be surprised; I've been on plenty of short holidays with a rugby team where everyone is going temporarily mad, but they've still got their medium term fitness in the back of the mind. They're drinking heavily, but will be careful to watch their diet somewhat otherwise - ie no late night kebabs, drinking light beers if available etc.

I've also lived in the US where lots of health-minded men will openly admit to drinking light beers instead of full bodied ones for calorie reasons, even when binge drinking. It's something I think will become more common in Ireland as average fitness levels increase.

the beer revolu

Blut2 wrote: »

I've also lived in the US where lots of health-minded men will openly admit to drinking light beers instead of full bodied ones for calorie reasons, even when binge drinking. It's something I think will become more common in Ireland as average fitness levels increase.

As a nation, we are getting fatter, not fitter.

Mesrine65

the beer revolu wrote: »

As a nation, we are getting fatter, not fitter.

You know what they say...survival of the fattest

rubadub

Zaph wrote: »

If you're on the sort of holiday where you're drinking 10 pints a night for a week I sincerely doubt that you're going to be the sort of person who cares how many calories are in each pint.

studies have shown that calories from alcohol have little effect on heavy drinkers, I have always known/found this myself anecdotally. Therefore if you have 10 pints of heineken a night or drank the equivalent units as vodka with a diet mixer you would be drinking the equivalent to about 3 pints worth of coke in the heineken. (I don't know Irish figures for heineken)

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/04/health/why-the-body-may-waste-the-calories-from-alcohol.html

But chronic heavy drinking can prime certain metabolic processes and, in effect, train the body to waste the seven calories a gram that alcohol ordinarily provides.

For example, weight gain was negligible in alcoholics who were given 2,000 calories of alcohol daily on top of the 2,500 calories from foods they consumed to maintain their weight. But when the same number of additional calories were fed as chocolate, a steady weight gain resulted.

Blut2 wrote: »

it gives figures of 230kcal for a UK pint of Heineken, 170kcal for a UK pint of Coors Light. So still a difference of 60kcal per pint, which is sizable enough to add up in large quantities/over time.

UK heineken is 5% and UK coors light is 4%.

So the if you drank the same amount of units as coors the coors would be 212.5kcal per pint.

i.e. 4 pints of heinken has the same alcohol as 5 pints of coors, which would be 920kcal vs 850kcal.

Confucius say

Alcohol calories don't effect my weight at all, from my experience it's 100% down to food. I'd imagine it's the same for most people.

Anyway - Heineken light was in Dunnes last night, the cans of it are 3%. I'm off the sauce for a while now but this is a great option to have, it means I can get 8 cans and bring then to a party and I wont be p*ssed. Hope it sticks around.

rubadub

There is a website under construction.

https://heinekenlight.ie/#/

As said above it does seem to be 3%.

http://www.drinksindustryireland.ie/heineken-lights-exclusive-irish-launch/

http://www.shelflife.ie/heineken-ireland-launches-heineken-light/

Heineken Light, which has won global awards for its taste, has been specially crafted by Heineken’s master brewers to deliver the trademark crisp taste and flavour that fans experience from Heineken. Brewed using the same process as Heineken, with the addition of the cascade aroma hop, it delivers a floral and fruity aroma. With a slightly lower bitterness, the brand describes Heineken Light as delivering a well-balanced and smooth light finish.

“Heineken Light is leading the way in Ireland,” commented Sharon Walsh, Heineken Ireland’s Marketing Director, “We know that beer drinkers are looking for choice and variety within the beer category – they want brands that match their lifestyles. Now they can ‘Have It All’ with Heineken Light – everything you want from a light beer, but with a great taste!
“Light can mean different things to different consumers” she continued, “light on taste, light in calories or lighter in ABV. What makes Heineken Light stand out is that it’s a great-tasting light beer that’s both low in calories and slightly lower in alcohol.”
Heineken Light is lighter in calories and is 3% ABV where Coors Light and Bud Light are standard strength ABV. The only other lower ABV beer on draught at present is Guinness Mid-Strength.
Heineken Light is available on draught, 330ml bottle and 500ml can with a RRP similar to that of Heineken Lager.

can't see them selling much at the same price.

Confucius say

rubadub wrote: »

can't see them selling much at the same price.

I think it's 4 cans of it for 6 or €7 at the moment. Really it should be 4 for €5 given the lower alc content. I wonder how long it will last.

rubadub

Confucius say wrote: »

I think it's 4 cans of it for 6 or €7 at the moment.

yep, 4 for €7 in tesco alright.

The duty on it is 33.8cent for 500ml at 3%.

If it was 2.8% it would fall into the lower category, so would 15.8cent for 500ml at 2.8%.

Up to 1.2% is no excise duty.

Confucius say

You'd think they'd have made it 2.9 to avoid that carry on

kieranfitz

A beer that's less than 5% abv has no need of a light version.

MonkstownHoop

kieranfitz wrote: »

A beer that's less than 5% abv has no need of a light version.

That bull is another indication of American influence here, it needs to be stopped as does the use of awesome in everyday life, there's a great documentary that I can't recall the name of that shows a group of yanks blind tasting beers, all light ****e mind, and as they taste them they say oh yeah that's my bud light ect and they were all wrong, idiots!

rubadub

This article is saying heineken light is 22kcal per 100ml.
http://www.irishmirror.ie/whats-on/food-drink-news/heineken-unveil-newest-beer-join-7831490

no regular heineken figures revealed, most online are for 5% stuff and I would only really trust their site.

That is 110kcal per 500ml can. Guinness is 170kcal per 500ml can, this was printed on the cans here a while back. So if guinness at 4.2% was watered down to 3% it would be about 121kcal. Guinness is relatively low in calories.

jimmy_b

I tried heineken light over the weekend, it wasn't bad but i don't see myself drinking it on a regular basis.

Davy

13,000 Free pints and €2 off vouchers for take away packs in supervalu and centra stres.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057602318

The_Irish_Dave

Can anyone tell me what pubs have Heineken Light on draught in the city centre? Not bottles. Draught. Cheers.

BeerNut

I've seen it in The Harbourmaster.