If you were to walk into your local watering hole and order a 'light' beer there would be little confusion. Your intent is to order one of the various lower calorie American style lagers, or a diet beer if you will, that have become a mainstay in American drinking culture. Traditionally beers have been described as either light or dark in color, and this type of light beer is often is a far cry from what one might expect in a diet beer.

The diet beer recipe was concocted in the late 1960's, but didn't hit popularity until purchased and promoted as 'Miller Lite'. The goal of a diet beer is to reduce the number of calories in the finished product. This can be achieved using several different methods, but all involve similar principles. Assuming that alcoholic content remains the same between the original and diet counterparts the key is to end up with a finished product having less residual sugar. Some brewers brew longer in order to allow the yeast to convert more sugars, while others use more easily fermentable sugars like rice and wheat. The recipe Miller Lite made popular, added enzymes to break down residual dextrins which are partially responsible for the malty flavor and aroma in beer. The dextrins are broken down by the yeast like other sugars in the malt to produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. At this point the beer is left with higher alcohol content, which is great for some, but in many cases the resultant brew is watered down in some manor to get back to the original recipe's ABV.

I could sit here and ramble on about what a travesty this process is or how diet beers are only fractionally less in calories but it is moot point. Some people actually prefer the watered down taste or are convinced it's healthier for them, and I've come to accept that this will be part of the drinking landscape's future, and that is okay.

Light beer, when referring to color, is a fairly generic term and encompasses a multitude of brewing styles. Light beers tend to range from almost clear to golden amber in color. They tend to have a smoother mouth feel and contain un-roasted malts, wheat, or rice. Going by this definition most diet beers would also qualify as light beers so it is hard to answer the question which is better, but it would help in my opinion to re-brand the category to diet beers, for disambiguation purposes. I do not see there being any added stigma to ordering a Diet Bud as opposed to a Bud Light, but what do I know…I’m just a beer snob.

Note 'Lite' is a registered trademark of the Miller Coors Brewing Company