Time to go ultra low

Opinion

5 Apr

Michael Donaldson delves into the fast-growing world of low carb beers…

Have you noticed the rise of the word Ultra on beer labels lately? There's Speight's Summit Ultra, Mac's Ultra Violet, Steinlager Ultra and now, Bach Brut Ultra.

Around the world, you'll also find Michelob, Miller, Molson, Kingfisher and Coopers all make beers with Ultra in the name. What does it mean?

Well, ‘Ultra’ has become shorthand for low carbohydrate beer. It sprang from the United States where breweries, starting with Michelob, jumped on a fitness and lifestyle trend that involved low carb diets and outdoor activities like mountain biking, trail running and ultra-endurance events.

While keto diets aren't quite as in vogue as they were pre-pandemic (we all need comfort food when the world is going nuts), low carb is still a big deal. And while most beer is naturally low in carbohydrate as most of the sugars (maltose) are converted to alcohol, there's enough residual sugar to be of concern to people who count their carbs. In short, there’s a market for low carb and it’s not exactly niche, judging by the number of new products.

“There’s a market for low carb and it’s not exactly niche, judging by the number of new products.”

After an initial surge, there's a been a second push of low carb beers on the market this year. The big breweries already had their presence (Speight's Summit Ultra and DB’s Export Gold Extra Low Carb were the early birds) and a few years ago Epic came in with Blue, a low carb pale ale with a big hop punch. Lion created Mac's Ultra Violet and added Steinlager Ultra, while DB brought out Monteith's Breaker Low Carb IPA.

And at the start of 2022 we’ve seen a veritable rush of these beers from Urbanaut, Bach Brewing, Good George and Epic (again, with an IPA).

Urbanaut tested and rebranded their award-winning Miami Brut Lager as “low carb” and moved it from the cool 250ml cans to 330ml six-packs. Good George brought out Social League, a low carb hazy IPA. Bach Brewing introduced Brut Ultra, a 4.4% low carb IPA, while Epic complemented Blue with Royal, a low carb IPA.

All of these have 1-2g of carbohydrate per 100ml and nearly all have a nutritional panel, which is rare in beer as it’s not required by law, but is certainly great to see.

Beyond their appeal to the low-carb market these beers have other great qualities too — particularly if you like your beers light and dry.

These all use an enzyme, found naturally in malt, to help break down long-chain sugars that are normally unfermentable. These unfermentable dextrins, as they are known, help fatten up the mouthfeel of beer as well as adding sweetness to balance hop bitterness.

As a result of new hop varieties and hopping techniques, brewers can compensate for the lack of residual sugar by embracing the perceived sweetness that comes from the fruit-like flavours created by modern hops.

The end result is a hoppy, super dry (bone dry) light-bodied, super-quaffable beer.

But a warning: a lower level of carbs does not make a “healthier” beer, though there is a perception they are “relatively” better for you. All these beers still contain alcohol, which delivers calories but in a more roundabout way. Alcohol is neither a carb nor a fat and has a calorific density somewhere in between the two. So, low carb doesn’t equal low calorie.

The next cab off the rank, if the US is anything to go by, will be zero carb beer.

Budweiser recently launched Bud Light Next — a 4% beer with no carbs. None. Budweiser says the beer is aimed at 20-somethings who like the lightness of a seltzer (which is basically alcoholic fizzy water) but want the flavour of beer.

I expect other breweries around the globe to start looking at ways to further reduce carbs towards zero too, because that word is a good selling point on any label, whether it’s carbs, alcohol, calories, fat, sugar or gluten.