'Tis almost the season to be jolly and also to worry about the waistline.
To ease the results of festive overindulgence Speight's has introduced a low-carbohydrate lager.
Traverse, so named because you carry only what you need, follows DB's launch more than a year ago into the low-carb market with Export 33.
Export 33 is so named because it is fermented 33% longer to eat up more sugars.
Traverse is fermented for eight days, instead of five for, say, Gold Medal Ale.
Ironically, to coincide with a beer with less sugar, new research indicates that sugar is good for the brain because it can ease tension.
Both Export 33 (which won a gold medal for low-carb beer at this year's BrewNZ competition) and Traverse are effervescent and refreshing, with Traverse producing a slightly stronger hop flavour.
Sugar helps to give a beer more body, but these are far from watery.
For those into healthy drinking, Traverse has .9g of carbohydrates (33 has 1.3g) and .23g of sugar (.20g in 33) per 100ml of beer.
In comparison, Speight's Gold Medal Ale has 2.8g of carbohydrates, Summit and Steinlager Classic 3.4g and Steinlager Edge 1.3g.
But that does not necessarily mean the waistline will not expand, because carbohydrate is not the only energy in beer: it combines with alcohol and proteins to contribute to overall energy, which is measured as calories or kilojoules (one calorie equals about 4kJ).
Alcohol is a big contributor to calories: the stronger the brew, the more there are.
Four-percent draught beer averages 35 calories per 100ml; 5% 45.
Traverse (4.3%) has 25, but Steinlager Classic (5%) has 40 and Heineken 45.
Wine has about 70 calories per 100ml; port 160; cider and Drambuie about 180.
That compares with 10 in an apple, 26 in a banana, eight in an orange or kiwifruit and virtually none in an olive.
The calorie count in vegetables is highest in potatoes, beans and peas, but low in spinach, cucumber and mushrooms.
Resurrection
Dunedin brewer Emerson's has resurrected its Maris Gold (4.7%), which was introduced late in 2000 when there was not enough Pilsner malt.
It was dropped from its range early in 2007 to make room for more pilsner in the tanks at its cramped former brewery in Grange St.
The new Maris Gold should please devotees of American Pale Ale because two American hop varieties join two New Zealand-grown varieties in the brew.
Drinking less
We have been drinking less beer.
Statistics to the end of September show a 3.5% decline in beer sales after a 3.3% rise in 2008.
Seemingly, most of the decline is over the bar, with tap sales (which represent about 20% of the total) down 6%. Lion Nathan, in its annual report to the end of September, says it sold 2.3% less.
However, its Steinlager varieties grew by 8% and Speight's volumes were up 3.6%.
Beer makes up two-thirds of the total alcoholic beverages sold, with wine accounting for 20%.
