On Saturday night, I had four beers in four hours.  No big deal, I thought.  I’m not driving, so I’m fine. These are Michelob Ultra Amber beers, so they’re only 64 calories.

Oh, no they’re not. My four twelve-ounce beers were actually a total of 456 calories! It turns out that I had confused the marketing for MGD64 with the Michelob Ultra brand. Oy vey.

Ideally with a diet you’re not supposed to drink at all, but if you must drink beer, here are some options:

Michelob Ultra Amber - 112 calories for 12 ounces.  My favorite of the low-calorie beers, it’s the only one I’ve tasted that actually tastes like beer.  If you’ve ever tried Michelob’s delicious Amber Bock, imagine a light version with about 50% of the flavor.  (Also noted: you don’t want to drink this one when it’s really really cold. Let it sit out for a couple minutes out of the fridge and it’ll taste much better.)

Michelob Ultra Lime Cactus - 107 calories for 12 ounces (also comes in Pomegranate Raspberry and Grapefruit Orange or something) The lime one tastes pretty much like a Corona Light with a lot of lime juice added.  At this point, you’re nearly drinking a wine cooler.

Michelob Ultra - 95 calories for 12 ounces is like a watered down Michelob Light.

MGD 64 is 64 calories for 12 ounces. I haven’t tried this one yet so I can’t speak to its taste.

A shot of vodka is roughly 70 calories, but varies slightly by its proof.  Good zero-calorie mixers include diet soda or diet tonic, or some light lemonade will be around 5 calories.

I’m starting to feel like an alcoholic writing all this information out, so I’ll refer you to the good people over at WebMD.  They’ve got an excellent article all about Low-Calorie Cocktails.

I’m attempting a ban on alcohol all together through the end of January, so I definitely won’t be making any more caloric mistakes. Cheers!