Neither beer nor seltzer is healthy, but if you’re trying to make a healthier decision, it’s worth knowing what specifically makes beer and seltzer different. Seltzer tends to be viewed as the “healthy” option, but it’s really not that simple. Just because seltzers might be marketed as lower in calories and sugar doesn’t mean that it’s healthy, or healthier than beer.
What Beer and Seltzer Are Made From
The reason why beer and seltzer are unhealthy (and how they differ from each other) comes down to how they’re made.
What Is Beer Made From?
Beer is made from five main ingredients:
- Water
- Hops
- Yeast
- Malt
- Adjunct (literally anything else added to beer, like fruit or other grains)
But anyone who has had beer knows that there’s a wide range of styles, with some being healthier than others. Low-calorie beers tend to use a mix of ingredients that lead to lighter beers, while other beers avoid malted barley to be gluten-free or gluten-reduced. However, most beer is going to be well over 100 calories a can, and you’d be hard-pressed to find actual gluten-free beer.
What Is Seltzer Made From?
The process of making seltzer isn’t so far off from beer. Like beer, seltzer needs yeast to break sugars down to create alcohol. But while beer gets its sugars from the malt, seltzers just use lots and lots of sugar. For most seltzers, the ingredients look like this:
- Water
- Yeast
- Sugar
- Flavoring
Because seltzers don’t use malt, you won’t find any gluten in a hard seltzer. Also, most seltzers tend to be around 100 calories, so that’s an improvement over most beer, along with fewer carbs. But seltzers do have residual sugar from the fermenting process, so if you want to go as sugar-free as possible, beer might be a better option; again, it depends on the seltzer and the beer.
Regardless, seltzer isn’t a healthy drink by any stretch, but it can be a healthier option than beer.
Beer vs Seltzer: Calories, Carbs, and Sugar
Because the health of beer and seltzer depends entirely on the type of beer and seltzer, here are a few common styles compared to each other, with average ranges based on some of the more widely available options for that style.
| Calories (12 oz) | Carbs (g) | Sugar (g) | ABV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light Beer | 90–110 | 3–6 | 0–1 | 3.5–4.5% |
| Standard Beer | 140–170 | 10–15 | 0–2 | 4.5–5.5% |
| Craft/IPA | 180–250+ | 15–25 | 0–3 | 6–8%+ |
| Standard Seltzer | 90–110 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4.5–5% |
| Higher-ABV Seltzer | 140–170 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 7–8% |
So, pretty much any IPA you drink will be high in calories, and any beer you choose will have more carbs than hard seltzer. Again, these are just ranges, so check the calories, carbs, and sugar content of your beer or seltzer before jumping to conclusions.
Beer vs Seltzer: Which Should You Drink?
If you’re comparing the general health benefits of beer and seltzer, then seltzer is definitely the “healthier” choice, though it’s worth repeating that neither option is healthy. That being said, you should…
- Choose beer if you want a wider variety of styles and flavors, or plan on pairing it with something tasty like pizza.
- Choose seltzer if you want to avoid gluten and calories, or just want a sweeter, fruitier beverage.
Honestly, if you’re just having one or two drinks, you’re not making a huge difference by choosing seltzer over beer (unless your goal is to avoid gluten). Light beers and seltzers have similar calories, but beer will have more carbs while seltzer has more sugar.
FAQ: Beer vs Seltzer Health
Seltzer has fewer carbs than beer, along with fewer calories than most types of beer. Hard seltzer is also gluten-free.
No, seltzer tends to have more sugar than beer, primarily because seltzer is made with pure sugar instead of malts.
Hard seltzer will make you just as hungover as beer will, though beer does have more chemical compounds that can affect you. Hangovers come down to how much you drink, how hydrated you are, if you ate, what you ate…basically, if you’re looking to avoid a hangover, just don’t drink.
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