First, let's go over the basics. All beer is going to have some carbs in it. Beer is made from grain, and grain is full of carbs. You might get a beer that is mostly water and only a little bit grain, but if it's a beer, it has grain.
Next, all beer with alcohol has to have calories! That's because alcohol is a form of energy for your body. Your body can only process four types of energy - carbs, fats, proteins and alcohols. That's a basic fact of biology. Energy is defined by calories. So any alcohol in any drink will provide calories for your body to burn.
So, on to beer that has had its alcohol removed. I should say "mostly" removed. Pretty much all beer that is converted into "no alcohol beer" still has trace amounts left. Studies have found that recovering alcoholics still react to that tiny trace amount of alcohol. So if you're trying to stay away from alcohol for medical or addiction reasons, I really recommend avoiding these no alcohol beers as well. It's like eating a pecan pie that has the nuts 'mostly' removed, if you're allergic to nuts. Even the traces left might set off your allergy.
In fact, legally, a beer can have up to 0.5% alcohol and still be called no alcohol.
Here are some no alcohol (i.e. up to 0.5% alcohol) beer:
Busch NA - 12.9g per 12oz
Brewed by: Anheuser-Busch, Missouri
O'Doul's - 18g per 12oz
Brewed by: Anheuser-Busch, Missouri
So as you can see, no alcohol beer is fairly high in carbs. That's because they've already pulled the alcohol (or most of it) out of the beer. So all you're left with is water and grain. If they pull out all of the grain too, you're left with water! So a beer with no alcohol and no grain is water :) If you're interested in this, you should drink a flavored water and save some money!
Let me know if there are other beer options you are interested in getting the nutritional information for!
Lisa Shea's Library of Low Carb Books
