Is there any sugar in beer?

Sugar in Beer

To begin our learning journey, it is safe to say that beer does contain sugar, but not in the traditional sense. As we all know, sugar is the simplest form of carbohydrate and is composed of various types. In beer, there are two types of sugar: disaccharides and oligosaccharides.

The disaccharides in beer, also known as maltose, are the fermentable sugars that convert into alcohol during the brewing process. They make up around 80% of the beer, while the remaining 20% consists of oligosaccharides.

Oligosaccharides are a type of sugar that the body cannot fully digest, so they don’t have the same impact as other types of sugar. However, they do contain many prebiotic fibers, which are beneficial for our gut health.

If you check the list of ingredients, you may not find sugar listed separately. This can be confusing, but keep in mind that the sugar in beer is produced through the fermentation of barley malt or beer gravity.

Nutritional Facts about Beer

Before delving deeper into the relationship between beer and sugar, let’s first explore the nutritional facts about beer. Most of the time, you can find this information on the label of the beer can, where a table displays all the contents of the beer you’re consuming. If you’re curious about what’s in your beer, refer to the table below for the average nutritional content of a single can of beer.