Low in carbohydrates but full of flavour, these are the low-carb beers you need to know.

If you’re watching your waistline or find yourself feeling a bit heavy after a beer then you’ve probably found yourself considering a low-carb option. With so many great lower-carb beers available these days, there’s plenty of options when it comes to finding a lighter style that’s still full of flavour.

It’s thanks to the rise of low-carb diets in the early 2000s that we have today’s modern low-carb beers. Technically, they’d been around for decades but back then they were labelled ‘diet beers’, which meant nobody paid much attention to them. Thankfully the new millennium way of thinking reframed low-carb beers and over the past 20 years, we’ve seen them get better and better.

What many people don’t know about beer is that it’s actually one of the lower-carb drink options out there. A regular lager contains around 10 grams of carbs in a 330mL bottle, which is much less than you’ll find in soft drink, juice, or even milk. Still, if you’re having more than one beer, the carbohydrates can quickly add up, which is exactly what makes lower-carb options a great choice.

When it comes to finding a low-carb beer, wording is everything. Typically a beer that’s sold as “low carb” means it has around three grams of carbs per 330mL bottle. While a beer that’s described as “lower carb” usually means it’s below the average 10 grams you’d find in a regular beer.

To help you pick the best option for you, we’ve highlighted five of our favourite go-to low-carb and lower-carb beers below. These are our picks for the best froths that deliver all the brew and none of the bloat.

Holding a can of Better Beer from the guys behind The Inspired Unemployed

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1. Better Beer

From the minds of internet sensations The Inspired Unemployed, Better Beer was created because the fellas wanted a full-flavour beer without any of the heaviness that usually came with it. And so Better Beer was born, a refreshing lager-style beer with zero carbs, no sugar, and only 87 calories.

2. Coopers Dry

Coopers has long been hitting the spot for beer lovers everywhere. The Coopers Dry is no different, but with the added benefit of being low in carbs. Noice. How do they do it? By fermenting the brew at a low temp over an extended period, their special yeast has time to go round and munch up all the sugars. This makes for a lower-carb beer, yes, but also an exceptionally dry finish with a super crisp blend of limey, lemony and delightfully bitter flavours and aromas.

Three bottles of Coopers Dry on an outdoor chair

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HOlding a bottle of Burleigh Brewing Co. Big Head No Carb Beer

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3. Burleigh Brewing Co. Big Head No Carb Beer

This beer has no carbs. Let us repeat: no carbs. Like, none at all. In fact, Big Head was Australia’s very first no-carb beer, and despite the fact that many others have had a bash at the category since, the crew at Burleigh Brewing Co. are still the masters. This is a full-flavoured lager-style beer, with plenty of hoppy bitterness for all you hop-heads out there – the ideal session bev.

4. XXXX Summer Bright

Ah, good old XXXX. While your uncle sips on a XXXX Gold, the Summer Bright is the iteration you should be grabbing from the esky. It’s built for summer, celebrating those warm days and long nights, salty hair, sandy feet, and everything else that makes summer such a dream. It’s light, crisp and dry – an easy drinker – and every drop is preservative free and low carb.

Holding a six-pack of XXXX Summer Bright

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A six-pack of Pure Blonde Ultra Low Carb Lager

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5. Pure Blonde Ultra Low Carb Lager

Back in 2004 Pure Blonde became the first purpose-brewed low-carb beer available in Australia and, to this day, it remains one of the most popular low-carb beers in the country. Crisp, clean, and easy-drinking, Pure Blonde is crafted with the finest ingredients and is completely preservative free. The addition of hersbrucker hops adds a well-balanced floral flavour to the beer, making it similar to traditional German lagers. And with 80% less carbs than regular beer and 50% less calories than wine it’s easy to see why it’s the low carb beer of choice for so many.