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+--- Thread: Red Wine vs Beer (/thread-16690.html)
- Punkoz - 01-07-2004
Hi, I was just wondering if Red Wine was more fattening than beer. I always hear of the term "beer belly" but never of red wine.
Thanks in advance for the help
- Tyrrell - 01-08-2004
I don't know the answer to your question but I've got some thoughts.
Both dry Wine and Beer I imagine derive the great majority of their calories from alcohol (wines with a lot of sugar may be different).
Wine has more alcohol per volume than beer so I would think that it has more calories per volume than beer.
People tend to drink greater volumes of beer than they do wine.
It seems to me that if they are consumed in the same manner it would be a wash. (Not to imply that they should be consumed in the same manner.)
Caloric values for wine and beer must be pretty simple to google for. Also, one of the regulars on this board is a doctor who probably will have something enlightening to say.
- Kcwhippet - 01-08-2004
Because of its lower alcohol conrent, a volume of beer would have a lower calorie content than an equivalent volume of wine. A typical 5 oz pour of 12.5% ABV wine will have about 102 calories while the same amount of 5% ABV beer will have about 63 calories. There are more things that contribute to the numbers in beer than just the alcohol because there's a formula I seem to recall that gives you the calories derived from alcohol. I think it's 1.633 x %alcohol x serving size. So, a 5 oz pour of 12.5% wine would yield about 102 calories, but the same for 5% beer would be about 41 calories. I came across a chart which listed the ABV and calories for about 200 beers and the average for 5% ABV lists as 63 calories, so there are some extra calories in regular beer that come from somewhere.
- Punkoz - 01-08-2004
Thanks for the replies.
- Thomas - 01-09-2004
I think the extra calories come from the pretzels... [img]http://38.118.142.245/ubb2/eek.gif[/img]
- wineguruchgo - 01-10-2004
I searched the web for calorie/fat content and this is what I found.
Beer (12 fl oz) Calories
Amber Ice beer 130
Artic Ice beer 150
Augsburger Bock beer 170
Ballard Bitter beer 180
Beck's beer 150
Big Sky beer 150
Black & Tan beer 185
Black Label beer 155
Blackhook Porter beer 160
Blatz beer 135
Blue Moon Ale 160
Bud Dry beer 130
Bud Ice beer 150
Budweiser beer 150
Busch beer 145
Carling beer 140
Wine (4 fl oz) Calories
Beaujolais 95
Bordeaux, red 95
Burgundy, red 95
Burgundy, white 90
Cabernet Sauvignon 90
Chablis 85
Champagne, dry 105
Champagne, pink 100
Chardonnay 90
Chianti 100
Liebfraumilch 85
Madeira 160
Marsala 80
Merlot 95
Mosell 100
Muscatel 160
Port, ruby 185
Port, white 170
Reisling 90
Rhone 95
Rose 95
Sangria 115
Sauterne 115
Sauvignon Blanc 80
Tokay 165
Zinfandel, red 90
Zinfandel, white 80
I'm a little confused though. Most of the wines with a higher sugar level had more calories, and yet, White Zin only has 80!
It's my understanding that beer has empty calories. Not really sure what that means but it's what I've always heard. Maybe it's calories that the body can't use or get rid of so it just hangs around. Around the middle.
- Thomas - 01-10-2004
Based on the above list, I deduce that, relative to alcohol by volume, beer provides more calories than wine--the alcohol (in grams) in 12 oz. of beer equals close to the alcohol in 4 oz. of wine. Most of the beers are well above most of the wines in calories to alcohol grams.
I was sad to see Madeira and Port so high, but I already knew that, which is why I drink them less these days. One other factor in the calorie game is: if you don't use them you get to keep them, seemingly forever!
Those empty calories refer to, I think, calories with little or no nutritional value. But they are calories that create beautiful rubber tires, if you get my drift...
- njjchiro - 01-10-2004
I wonder if the fact that beer is a grain based beverage and wine fruit based that beer would be higher in carbs....therefore more calories.....???
- wineguruchgo - 01-11-2004
If I remember correctly on the Atkins diet beer is out - no if ands or buts. Yet wine is acceptable. They were calling it Medium White Wine. I actually wrote to them asking them what they meant. They really didn't know. I wrote back and deduced that they were talking about the sugar content (had to be)and asked them to rephrase it to elimiate high sugar wines.
- Punkoz - 01-12-2004
Wow... I thought alcohol would be definitely a no no in the Atkins diet.