Beer Is Healthy
It's common knowledge that a glass of red wine at dinner is a healthy addition to an adult diet, but most people ignore the healthy aspects of wine's ugly cousin – beer. Consumed in moderation, beer can offer many nutrients the body needs.
Which Beers are Healthy?
Although there is nothing wrong with having a light domestic lager with dinner, they are more traditionally considered a "session beer," or beer meant for getting drunk with your friends. As hangovers tend to remind us, our body does not find this behavior healthy. Our national macro breweries use corporate farms, which are notorious for leaving pesticide residue on barley, the main ingredient to beer.
Ales offer a larger variety of styles with ingredients that can bolster the immune system, help prevent cancer, or provide extra energy. For those of you that confuse calorie count with healthiness, it is common for many ales to clock in at 130 calories, about as much as a Keystone light. Many microbreweries that focus on ales try to use as many organic ingredients as possible, reducing the risk for nasty adjuncts in your beer.
Fruit – Antioxidants anyone? Many breweries add flavor to beer with anything from cherries to pomegranates. Sam Adams’ Cherry Wheat is a favorite among my friends, but if you want something a little more subtle, try Magic Hat’s apricot-flavored #9.
Yeast – Home Brewers rejoice! The annoying silt at the bottom of every bottle you brew is actually very healthy for you. Yeast includes B vitamins and proteins that are essential to our diet. The B vitamins have the added bonus of reducing hangovers if you decide to over-indulge.
Examples of Healthy Beers
New Belgium Skinny Dip – from the makers of the prolific Fat Tire, this American Blonde Ale has only 114 calories in a 12 ounce serving. Wow.
Green Flash West Coast IPA – Lots of hops means lots of polyphenols. This also happens to be the best IPA I have ever had. Mike n’ Molly’s usually has a few bottles in stock.
There are some truly nutritious brews available to the people of Champaign-Urbana, but really any beer can be good for you, as long as you keep it to one or two with your meal.
7 comments
matt
You might wanna look up the definition of session beer before you use it. From http://beeradvocate.com/articles/653
“session beer
n.
Any beer that contains no higher than 5 percent ABV, featuring a balance between malt and hop characters (ingredients) and, typically, a clean finish - a combination of which creates a beer with high drinkability. The purpose of a session beer is to allow a beer drinker to have multiple beers, within a reasonable time period or session, without overwhelming the senses or reaching inappropriate levels of intoxication. (Yes, you can drink and enjoy beer without getting drunk.) ”
So its not beer meant for getting drunk with your friends, its beer meant to be enjoyed over a long period without getting drunk (Köstritzer Schwarzbier for example).
I appreciate the dictionary help. As anyone familiar with signification knows, words have multiple meanings. Beer Advocate is primarily frequented by older brewers and aficionados. I’m in college.
“Session Beer” has a different signification to college kids.
I apologize for leaving out the 25+ crowd there.
Mertz
You left out the 25+ crowd? Not to be a douchebag, but the audience on Smile Politely ain’t the 19 year olds slamming piss water at Kam’s.
Know thy audience is the most important rule of writing. Don’t forget us next time you write something. We may be geezers, but we know our beer and our beer terminology.
If you read any of the other Hop Politely columns you will realize I haven’t left you out. In the case of signifying “session beer” in a SLIGHTLY different way, I left you out. Hence the apology.
I appreciate the writing *tip*. Very helpful. I had no idea this wasn’t a college publication - Smile Politely is owned by Illini Media, right?
You do sound like a “insert word a 19 year old slamming piss water at Kam’s would use” when yyou slam kids slamming piss water at Kam’s. Know why? Because when you were 19 you did the same thing. Or perhaps 17-18. Don’t deny it, just acknowledge it as a stupid part of growing up.
First of all, no one refers to imbibing at Kam’s as “stupid” on my watch. You have been warned.
Second, does this article mean that Icehorse is good for me? I sure hope it does.
Bob Skilnik
All the word parsing above aside, if you’d really like to know more about the nutritional aspects of beer (college kids and old geezers alike),take a look at “Does My BUTT Look BIG In This BEER? Nutritional Values Of 2,000 Worldwide Beers on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
More at www.drinkhealthydrinksmart.com
Mertz, you should be on the board for this shin-dig.
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Pamela - Are the roasteries in Seattle as clean as CSR? It always disturbs me a little that it is so clean in there.