With little or no added sugar, beer is the undisputed winner here. As a result, it usually has fewer carbohydrates than cider, which makes it a little “healthier”, even though the number of calories remains approximately the same. When it comes to sugar content, cider usually has 23 grams per serving, which is actually quite high for a drink. Beer, on the other hand, usually doesn't contain sugar.
This makes beer a better alternative to a regular drink, since sugar is often linked to health problems, such as obesity and heart disease. The real answer here would depend on where your priorities lie in terms of creating a healthy lifestyle. In general terms, most would agree that ciders have an advantage over beer in a variety of respects. A great cider, such as Stock & Row's Cold Tea cider has 0 g of sugar, gluten-free & vegan, low in carbohydrates.
Also made with 100% Ontario apples. Most beers would have a hard time competing with that. There are, of course, exceptions to this, such as Henry Westons Oak Aged Herefordshire cider with an ABV of 8.2%, but for most ciders found on tap in your local pub, the ABV is usually around 4 to 5 percent. They share the myriad benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, but a touch of antioxidants gives cider an extra effervescence when it comes to health.
But how similar are they really? Could one be better than the other? So to finally resolve the beer versus cider debate, here are some ways beer and cider actually differ from each other. Despite the fact that cider has been around for a long time, it has only recently resurfaced as a popular substitute for beer. Fermented with fruits such as apples, peaches and pears, all of which have a high natural sugar content, cider has a much higher overall sugar content than beer, which is fermented with low-sugar grains, such as hops and barley. Compared to all the ciders mentioned above, for example, this has 36% fewer calories on average.
If you've been to a party lately, you've probably seen a lot more people than before strolling around with hard cider. Even so, the British consume more than any other country, collectively consuming almost 40 percent of the cider produced worldwide. In the case of cider, almost all carbohydrates are fermentable and about 100 percent of sugars are converted to alcohol. Although a degree of sugar is often added to beer to balance flavor, the impact of different fermentation processes means that cider more often has a higher number of carbohydrates.
Malic acid (the most common in apple juice) has about 2.4 calories per gram, so cider acids will add a little less than 5 more calories to the finished cider. In addition to the benefits found in beer, scientists have found as many antioxidants, which help fight dementia, in cider as in red wine, but with a much lower alcohol level. But what about dry ciders? While it is true that this type of cider contains less sugar as a result of yeast being allowed to consume most of the natural sugars in cider, this process produces higher levels of alcohol, which in turn increases the amount of calories overall.
