The Low Cal Craze

There have been a bundle of fads in beer. We all remember such enduring sensations as "dry", "red" & "draft". Usually, one version of these fads endures and the rest fade away. The problem with fads is that it is hard to tell what to think of them while they are happening. Light beer was a fad that stuck. The malternative beverage fad is certainly lingering longer than most of us had hoped. (At least Zima faded.) The hardest one to call in a long time is the "Ultra" fad. Many years ago several brewers tried to make "super lights". Olympia made Oly Gold that had about 1 calorie and even less flavor. If memory serves Coors also had such a product. It wasn't until Michelob Ultra that it really caught on as a fad. We even had to start carrying the stuff in our Irish Pub.
Before I start to sound bitter or negative I must say that I often drink the stuff. Sometimes when I really should be drinking water, I will pick one up as a delicious water alternative. Unlike other bottled water, I know this has been boiled. I got really excited when Ultra Amber hit the shelves. The distributor brought me a couple samples and I was sold. Light and tasty. "I am probably using more calories opening this than it contains," I thought. Guess again. The damn thing has 114 calories. I don't know what the Ultra part stands for. Many beers have under 100 calories and many others are close to it. Even many stouts aren't much more.
I'm sure any true beer guzzler doesn't drink many beers based on the calorie count. A beer guzzler's diet should really be based on an overall number of calories per day. Simply subtract the number of calories you want to stick to per day and subtract the beer calories. That gives you the amount of calories left for food. If you intend to drink all your calories, just make sure you throw in a couple oatmeal stouts for nutrition.
I suppose there is no real revelation here. If you want to look like me or David Beckham you will have to join your Ultra Amber on the exercise bike plain and simple.