The Most Popular Beers in the UK, and Their Lighter Matches
The UK is a lager country, and it has been for decades. A handful of big-name lagers pour more pints and fill more fridges than everything else combined, and the running order barely moves from one year to the next. Trade figures tracked by The Grocer’s survey of Britain’s biggest alcohol brands put the same five names at the top of beer season after season. Here are the five most popular beers in the UK, what makes each a favourite, roughly how many calories and carbs they carry, and a lighter, lower-calorie lager to match each one if you want the same pint with a smaller number behind it.
One thing worth knowing first, because it explains every comparison below. Two things drive the calories in any beer: alcohol and carbohydrate. Alcohol carries about seven calories a gram, nearly as much as pure fat, and the leftover grain sugar, the carbs, adds a little more. So a stronger, fuller lager is always the more calorific one, and a lager brewed lighter and drier is the smaller number, whatever the label promises. Serving size does the rest, which is why Drinkaware puts a pint of standard 4% lager at around 180 calories, roughly half a cheeseburger, while a 330ml bottle of the same beer is nearer 130.
Most Popular Beers in the UK
The same beer can look light or heavy depending on the glass, so it pays to compare like for like. Here is a typical 4.5% lager across the common measures:
Serving
Calories
330ml bottle
around 140
440ml can
around 185
Pint, 568ml
around 240
Per 100ml
around 42
A pint is a little under two bottles, so the format you drink in matters almost as much as the beer itself. Every comparison below is held at 330ml so the beers, not the glasses, are what you are weighing up.
1. Stella Artois
The biggest beer brand in the country, and the one most people picture when they think of a premium lager. Belgian in origin, brewed in the UK for years, Stella is a crisp, slightly bitter 4.6% pale lager that has become the default premium pint in pubs and the default crate in the supermarket. That strength puts a 330ml bottle at around 140 calories, standard for a full-strength lager. For the same crisp, easy style a good deal lighter, DrinkWell’s Roley’s Super Natural Lager is a 4.4% lager at 89 calories and 5g of carbs, so you keep almost all the strength and lose more than a third of the calories.
2. Budweiser
The American icon that became a British staple, Budweiser is a 4.5% pale lager built to be smooth, sweet and endlessly drinkable, which is exactly why it shifts in such volume. That smoothness comes partly from the grain, so a 330ml bottle lands at around 145 calories and carries more carbs than a drier lager of the same strength. A closer-brewed alternative keeps the strength and drops both: Prime Time Lager is 4.2%, 95 calories and just 4g of carbs, a lighter take on the same everyday pint.
3. Corona Extra
The Mexican lager that turned a wedge of lime into a marketing empire, Corona is a 4.5% pale lager that trades on being light, crisp and sunny. The calories are average for a lager at around 135 per 330ml bottle, but the carbs are the catch, at 13.2g a bottle, high for its strength and worth knowing if you are watching them. A same-strength lager brewed drier closes that gap almost entirely: Roley’s Super Natural Lager, again at 4.4%, carries 5g of carbs against Corona’s 13.2g, more than 60% fewer, at a third fewer calories. Our full guide to Corona Extra calories breaks that one down in detail.
4. San Miguel
The Spanish lager that has quietly become one of the UK’s favourite premium pints, San Miguel is a fuller 5% lager with a bit more body and a bit more bite than the others on this list. That extra strength means extra calories, around 150 per 330ml bottle, the heaviest of the top five. If San Miguel is your usual and the strength is part of the appeal, Roley’s at 4.4% gets you closest on character while cutting the calories to 89. If you would rather trade a little strength for a much smaller number, the next option goes further still.
5. Carling
The best-selling British-brewed lager, and the everyday session pint for millions. Carling is a lighter 3.7% lager, which makes it the lowest-calorie beer of the mainstream five almost by default, at around 110 to 115 calories per 330ml. It shows how much strength alone drives the number. You can take that idea further with a lager built specifically to be light: Tennents Light comes in at 84 calories and just 0.8g of carbs at 3.4%, the lowest-carb lager we stock and a natural step down from a session lager like Carling.
The five, and their lighter matches, side by side
All figures are per 330ml so it is a fair comparison. The mainstream numbers are typical for each beer at its strength; the DrinkWell figures are the label values.
Per 330ml
ABV
Calories
Carbs
Stella Artois
4.6%
around 140
higher
Budweiser
4.5%
around 145
higher
Corona Extra
4.5%
135
13.2g
San Miguel
5.0%
around 150
higher
Carling
3.7%
around 110
medium
Roley’s Super Natural
4.4%
89
5g
Prime Time Lager
4.2%
95
4g
Tennents Light
3.4%
84
0.8g
The pattern is clear. At the same sort of strength, a lager brewed lighter runs 40 to 60 calories a bottle below the mainstream names, and a long way below on carbs. Nothing is being traded away on alcohol to get there, which is the usual catch people expect and the reason these hold up as everyday swaps rather than compromises.
Three lighter lagers worth knowing
Across all five favourites, the same handful of DrinkWell lagers keep coming up, because they cover the ground the big brands do at a fraction of the calories and carbs:
Roley’s Super Natural Lager, 4.4%, 89 calories, 5g of carbs. The closest match for a full-strength lager like Stella, Budweiser or Corona, with barely any drop in strength.
Prime Time Lager, 4.2%, 95 calories, 4g of carbs. A crisp everyday lager for anyone who wants the standard pint made lighter.
Tennents Light, 3.4%, 84 calories, 0.8g of carbs. The lightest of the three, and the lowest-carb lager we stock, for a proper session without the numbers piling up.
All three sit in the low calorie beer range, and the wider lager collection lets you sort by calories or carbs to see exactly what you are getting before you buy.
What about low-carb and keto drinkers?
Calories are only half the story for a lot of beer drinkers now. Carbs are the other, and it is where the mainstream lagers vary most: Corona’s 13.2g a bottle sits at one end, a light lager under 1g at the other. If carbs are the number you care about, the keto beer range is fermented to leave only a gram or so of carbs behind, sometimes less, while holding a normal strength. Tennents Light, at 0.8g, is effectively a keto-friendly lager already. It is the clearest single reason to switch from a mainstream pint: not the calories alone, but the carbs that come with them.
Why lighter beer is on the rise
Alongside these long-standing favourites, the fastest-moving shift in UK beer is drinkers wanting the same pint with less. Low-calorie and low-carb lagers have gone from a niche to a fixture, driven by the same people who still want a proper lager on a Friday, just without the heavier numbers or the next-day cost. It is not about drinking less beer so much as drinking the beer you like in a cleaner form. That is why every entry on this list now has a lighter counterpart that holds its strength rather than watering it down, and why those lighter lagers increasingly sit next to the originals in the fridge rather than off in a corner of the shelf.
Keeping the calories down, whatever you pour
Whichever of these is your usual, a few habits keep the maths honest. Check the ABV first, since that one number drives most of the calories, and a 4% lager will always undercut a 5% one for the same pour. Watch the carbs as closely as the calories, because that is where lagers differ most and where the biggest savings hide. Mind the format, since a pint is nearly two bottles and a big can not far off. And if lager is your everyday drink rather than an occasional one, a lighter, lower-carb version of it saves a little every single time, which adds up far faster than any one night ever would.
Most popular UK beers: FAQs
What is the most popular beer in the UK?
Stella Artois is the biggest beer brand by retail sales, with Budweiser, Corona, San Miguel and Carling completing the top five lagers.
What is the best-selling British lager?
Carling is the biggest-selling British-brewed lager, and at 3.7% it is also the lightest of the mainstream top five on calories.
Which popular beer has the fewest calories?
Of the big brands, the lower-strength ones like Carling are lightest. Purpose-built light lagers such as Tennents Light go lower again, at around 84 calories and 0.8g of carbs per 330ml.
Which popular lager is highest in carbs?
Corona Extra is notably high for its strength at 13.2g per 330ml. A same-strength lager brewed drier can carry under 5g.
Is there a low-calorie version of my usual lager?
Usually, yes. For a full-strength lager like Stella, Budweiser or Corona, a 4.4% light lager such as Roley’s Super Natural gets you the same crisp pint at around a third fewer calories.
How many calories are in a pint of lager?
A pint of standard 4% lager is around 180 calories, and a stronger 5% pint closer to 240. A lighter lager brings that well down.
Which beers are best for a low-carb or keto diet?
Light and keto-brewed lagers are the ones to look for, since they ferment out most of the grain sugar. Tennents Light at 0.8g of carbs is effectively keto-friendly, and dedicated keto lagers go lower still.
Do lighter lagers taste watered down?
Not the well-made ones. Because they hold their strength and are simply brewed drier, a lager like Roley’s or Prime Time keeps the character while trimming the calories and carbs.
The UK’s favourite beers are its big lagers, and there is nothing wrong with any of them. The point is simply that the pint you like usually has a lighter twin, same strength, fewer calories, far fewer carbs. Browse the full low calorie beer range to see the calories, ABV and carbs on every can and bottle before you buy.