That Accel stuff is better than Michelob Ultra IMHO. That's good to know Saranac makes it, I always liked their brews. I was wondering who the hell Matt Brewing was Good stuff! I had a few too many on Saturday when I was taste testing them at home. Good news was no headache!

I posted this in the products subforum, but haven't seen it here yet so I'll post again=)

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031014/detu028_1.html

New Belgian Import, Martens Low Carbohydrate, Offers Beer Drinkers Lowest Carbs, Better Taste
Tuesday October 14, 2:55 pm ET


LAS VEGAS, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Millions of Americans following a low carbohydrate lifestyle will soon be able to enjoy an imported Belgian beer that has the lowest carb count of any other beer on the market. Martens Low Carbohydrate, brewed by Brouwerij Martens of Bocholt, Belgium and imported by Elite Brand Imports of Kalamazoo, MI was unveiled yesterday at the National Beer Wholesaler Association's (NBWA) 66th Annual Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nev.
Martens Low Carbohydrate contains only 2.1 grams of carbs per serving, the lowest carb count of any beer on the market. Martens is distinguished from other low-carb beers by its imported beer taste. Martens received rave reviews from both wholesalers and trade industry experts attending the NBWA trade show.

"The response to this beer has been incredible," said Rick Davis, Elite Brand Imports Vice President, Sales and Marketing. "Martens Low Carbohydrate has three huge selling points that quite frankly the other low-carb contenders just don't have. It's got fewer carbs than any other beer, it's imported from Belgium, and it tastes like a regular, higher-carb beer."

It's estimated that at least 24 million people nationwide have tried the low-carb lifestyle. Food and beverage marketers are quickly developing low carbohydrate alternatives to capture a portion of what promises to become a huge market.

"I've been doing the low-carb regimen myself for two years now," said Eric Marvin, Elite Brand Imports Marketing and Public Relations Manager. "It's more of a lifestyle than a diet, and it's serious business. For those who count carbs, the difference between Martens with 2.1 grams of carbs and Michelob with 2.6 grams is huge."

Marvin said the millions who have already adopted the low-carb lifestyle are desperate for low carb alternatives that offer the taste and quality of regular food and beverage products. "Some of the low-carb food and beverage products currently on the market either have the consistency of burlap or taste like heavily watered-down versions of what they're supposed to be. Those of us who get it right are going to dominate the market with our quality," Marvin said. "When people taste Martens Low Carbohydrate, they won't know they're drinking a low-carb beer unless they read the label."

Martens Low Carbohydrate is brewed and bottled in Bocholt, Belgium by Brouwerij Martens. Established in 1758, the brewery is one of the oldest in Belgium and brewmaster Fons Martens is the eighth generation of his family to carry forward the tradition of crafting Belgian beers. The market for Belgian beer has been experiencing very favorable growth over the past two years and during the first half of 2003 alone, demand for Belgian beers rose 17 percent.

Elite Brand Imports has already introduced Martens Low Carbohydrate to select on-premises locations throughout Michigan. The beer will be introduced to markets nationwide in both off- and on-premises outlets over the next several months.

I had read the same thing about Guinness and rejoiced, as I love Guinness. However my joy was short-lived. I can't speak for draft Guinness from a tap, but the can of Guinness Draught sitting beside me has the following nutritional info on the label:

Per 12 FL OZ: Average Analysis: Calories - 126; Carbohydrates - 9.9 grams; Protein -0.3 grams; Fat - 0.0 grams.

So my pint-sized can contains 13.2 grams of carbs. Sob.

Oh, damn. I'll look further to see what is up with that. Could they be counting the alcohol as a carb?

OK.

According to http://brewery.org/brewery/library/AlClbinger.html, Guinness is 4.27% alcohol.

That means the alcohol calories in 12 oz are 101.5 = 12 oz x 28.3 gm/oz x 4.27/100 x 7 cal/gm.

126 total calories less 101.5 alcohol calories equals 24.5 calories from carbs and protein. With 0.3 gm protein, then 24.5 / 4 cal/gm equals about 6.1 gm of actual carbs & protein, or 5.8 gm of carbs. The 5.8 is not that far from the 5.2 quoted in the literature and well within the roundoff error of some of the factors in my calculations.

If Guinness really has 9.9 carbs in 12 oz, the calorie count would be higher - closer to 140, not 126.

I don't disagree with your math.. but if they got the carb count wrong, why should we trust the calorie count?

This may help.. this is not Guiness Extra Stout (4.27% alcohol) but Guinness Draught (4.1%).

http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/alc_in_bev.html

Frankenbeer: Low-carb brew frightening on numerous counts

By MIKE DUNHAM
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: October 31, 2003)

link to article

In a spectacular exercise in misplanning, I decided to get serious about the Atkins low-carbohydrate diet at the same time I finished filling every resealable bottle I own with stout, dark homebrewed beer. My half-rack-a-day years are far behind me now. One glass of beer puts me to sleep, so I like that one beer packed full of flavor and grains -- and the carbohydrates that come from grains.

The Atkins scheme, which at this point in the plan calls for no more than 10 grams of carbs per meal, works for me because I could cheerfully eat bacon three times a day for the rest of my life. But it leaves me staring at 99 bottles of beer on my wall and wondering how long it will take to sip my way through them without overdosing on sugar byproducts.

So when I saw Michelob Ultra, with 2.6 grams of carbohydrates per 12-ounce bottle, it seemed worth a try, even at the gouge price of $7 for a six-pack.

It wasn't.

In many Alaska communities, tap water has a more robust color than what came out of the bottle. The taste reminded me of what you might get if you mixed Zima with water in a 1:4 ratio. I wondered, had Atkins ruined my palate for beer the way it made my formerly beloved biscuits taste like paste?

Going to the Internet, I found plenty of disparaging comments about the Michelob product. The reviewer at beeradvocate.com called Ultra "the most lackluster, boring, gimmicky beer of its time."

Beerhound's beerblog.com site showed a photo of the test bottle being poured down a sink drain. "There was nothing horrible, but nothing good either," wrote Beerhound.

His comments were followed by those of readers, most of whom agreed with him. But others dragged the debate back to the point. "Anyone who complains about Ultra is not concerned with their waist line," wrote a person who goes by "Darling." "The taste is great, and cutting back on the carbs is amazing."

Darling drew fire from fans of Miller Lite, which has 3.2 grams of carbs. Beerhound himself described Miller Lite as "better tasting than Bud Light, which is pushing those carbs up to around 6.6 grams."

In an article in the Arizona Republic, Kerry Lengel noted that Bud Light has overtaken Budweiser (11 grams) as America's best-selling beer. He also described how a low-carb beer is made: The brewer boils the grain mash longer to break down more carbs into fermentable sugars, which yeast turns into alcohol and bubbles.

"The problem with this logic is that the only way to achieve the same alcohol content ... is to start with less total grain, thus ending with less flavor," Lengel wrote, "unless there's some sort of filtering going on that they're not telling us about."

What they're not telling us has been on my mind too. Beer makers don't have to list the nutritional content or ingredients the way food manufacturers do. The recipe for sugar-free root beer, which I have made, calls for using just enough sugar for the yeast to transform into carbonation and using artificial sweetner to replace the flavor that disappears when the real stuff becomes gas. Is some similar legerdemain employed for Ultra?

One reason to limit one's drinking to homebrew is that you know what's in it, or at least who made it -- usually a friend who observes the ethic of work first, drink later (an ethic which separates homebrewers from problem drinkers, who see things the other way around).

I might be lured into glugging a faceless Frankenbeer if it tasted sensational.

Ultra doesn't.

My research turned up some useful information. David Lauterbach, on the briansbelly.com Web site, reported that 12 ounces of Guinness -- which my homebrew aspires to imitate -- has 5.2 grams of carbs. Less than Bud, less than Bud Light. One could subsist on five Guinnesses, salad and bacon each day and not crack the Atkins limit.

Other sites say Guinness has 11 carbs and some dark beers run as high as 15 to 20. The USDA nutritional search site, www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl, lists 5.732 grams of carbs for 12-ounce cans of generic "regular" beer and Corinne Netzer's venerable "The Complete Book of Food Counts" gives 13.2 carb grams for the same product.

Without more consensus, I suggest, it's better to be skinny than sorry.