Drink-a-Pint

After spending last weekend driving 10 hours each way to Ohio, I started taking stock of just how much junk I ate during the trip. From Krispy Kreme and White Castle to Roy Rogers and Burger King, it’s amazing what being cooped up in a car for hours on end will do to your diet… Thankfully, our friends at Miller are here to rescue me from my growing waistline with what can only be described as the greatest scientific discovery of this century – a light beer that is only 64 calories and 2.4 grams of carbohydrates per 12 ounce serving!

Yes, that’s right, it’s time for MGD 64, the beer that’s lighter than lite!

MGD 64 is a reformulation of Miller Genuine Draft Light that has just 64 calories. It was initially launched last summer in Madison, Wisconsin and the feedback was positive enough for Miller to roll it out to a handful of additional test markets in March, including Arizona, San Diego and Sacramento.

Now, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that the beer has “performed better than expected in recent test marketing, and it could end up as a national brand sooner rather than later,” according to Miller Brewing President Tom Long. “We will seek to roll it out just as fast as we can.”

That roll out is happening pretty quickly as you can currently find MGD 64 in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and parts of California.

So, how does MGD 64 stack up against other brews? I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t speak for the taste, but it beats its nearest competitors by over 30 calories and has less than half the carbs of anything else out there:

• Bud Light has 110 calories and 6.6 carbs
• Coors Light has 102 calories and 5.0 carbs
• Heineken Light has 99 calories and 6.8 carbs
• Amstel Light has 95 calories and 5.0 carbs
• Michelob Ultra has 95 calories and 2.6 carbs

Plus, it beats out wine (128 calories – twice the amount in MGD 64), gin and tonic (172 calories) and, big surprise, margaritas (246 calories for 6.4 oz).

Now, I’m not sure if I’d go as far as calling it “a guiltless pleasure for moments of relaxation” like Miller does, but this could be a great session beer if the taste is anything close to a Miller Lite.