Preparing For Beer Transparency (Issue 30)

Depending whether you're a snifter half-full or half-empty kind of person, your future pints may come with a side of regret. As of May 5, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will require nutrition facts and calories to be listed for all standard bar and restaurant menu items, both on individual menus and menu boards. This includes beer menus. All businesses are required to comply by July 26, 2018 (or July 26, 2019 for those with less than $10 million in annual food sales).

All chain restaurants or similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations in the U.S. must disclose this information, along with many grocery and convenience stores, bowling alleys, movie theaters, sports venues and vending machines, according to the Beer Institute, a Washington D.C. based trade organization which represents the majority of brewers, large and small, in North America.

The logistics behind making such a switch is no small task. The FDA will require separate calorie disclosures for each individual alcoholic beverage offered, including beer, meaning specialty craft beer bars have their work cut out for them. Calories listed must be specific to either the beer or its style, along with each serving size offered. It doesn't stop there. If a discerning patron requests, restaurants must supply calories from fat, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugars and protein.

Where does the burden fall for supplying and listing this information? It's easy to see harried restaurant managers demanding brewers supply the necessary information. 

After all, the product's creator should know best. For most breweries, especially larger breweries with dedicated lab teams, this won't be an issue. Many breweries have already committed to the Beer Institute's Voluntary Disclosure Initiative, designed to "disclose ingredients on either the label or secondary packaging via a list of ingredients, a reference to a website with the information or through a QR code," according to the BI's website. Those that have signed on include Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, HeinekenUSA, Constellation Brands Beer Division, North American Breweries and Craft Brew Alliance, which combined produce over 81 percent of all beer sold in the U.S.

But the Voluntary Disclosure Initiative is voluntary, after all, and while the brewers listed above account for the majority of beer produced by volume, they are but a few amongst thousands of microbrewers, whose fewer resources make the prospect of divining such information, updating packaging and supplying it much more daunting.

Those who have volunteered are also likely in it for a bit more than the warm fuzzy feeling they'll get for their efforts. To put it plainly, they are largely light beer producers whose sales won't suffer, and may grow, from releasing such information. Low calories are light beer's biggest selling point. For imperial stouts, this couldn't be farther from the truth, and will likely be at least mildly detrimental to darker and stronger beer sales. Founders KBS has an estimated 336 calories, and The Alchemist's revered Heady Topper has 240. When compared to Guinness, which rings in at just 125, the calories kind of kill the buzz, and decision-making might change. It's safe to assume some smaller, niche breweries making bigger beers may be dragging their heels on the Voluntary Disclosure Initiative.

Having testing done on beers is an ordeal in itself. White Labs, a well-respected fermentation sciences lab offers nutritional analysis packages for $635. Not bad if you make two or three brews, but experimentation is a key aspect of craft brewing, and it's not uncommon to see a bootstrapped microbrewer pumping out 20 to 30 different brews a year, which translates to serious outgoing cashflow. Thankfully, the Brewers Association, champions of the small brewer, stepped in with a solution.

After striking a deal with the FDA, the BA partnered with the Scandinavian School of Brewing to create a beer nutrient database that reflects average nutritional values for more than 40 craft styles, and is available to all of its members. This information will allow brewers to supply accurate information based on style and gravity measurements, replacing the need to shell out big bucks for each new beer's nutritional analysis. Small brewers take note: if you haven't joined the BA, this database is worth the price of admission and then some.

Since none of us subsist solely on beer, let's take a brief step back and look at how nutrition labeling is changing in general. Perhaps most importantly, serving sizes are changing according to packaging. For example, a 20-ounce beverage and a 12-ounce beverage will both be considered one serving, as they are both usually consumed in one sitting. Obviously, the nutrition information will vary according to package size, and something that can't be finished in one siting, like a box of cereal will still be broken down into multiple servings. Serving sizes and calories will be larger and more easily visible, and daily values will change to reflect the first updates to the food pyramid since the 90's. Added sugars will be separate from naturally occurring sugars, though both will be listed, and calories from fat won't be listed at all, as research has shown that the type of fat matters more than the amount. Lastly, packaging will now state exactly how much of each nutrient is in the product rather than a percentage of daily value, and vitamins A and C have been removed and replaced with Vitamin D and potassium, which people generally are in more need of.

So, while these nutritional listing mean big changes for the brewer, those changes are mostly accounted for. What remains to be seen is how third parties will wrangle the required information, how it will be enforced, and most importantly, how you will be affected. To that end, I offer a general health tip: the quality of ingredients you ingest, inhale, imbibe, impart unto yourself is more important than the quantity – within moderation. Am I doctor? No. Can this information be misconstrued? Of course. Just remember, not all fats are bad, and carbs aren't a terrific indicator of health. Quality over quantity is a defining tenet of the craft beer ethos, and one that can be applied to just about any area of life. Take that, run with it, and if the nutrition facts check out, celebrate with a beer.