How Many Calories In Miller High Life? (Explained)

With beer drinkers becoming more and more health-concious, we want to have a greater understanding of what is in our beer. This means we don’t just want to look at the ingredients, but also the amount of calories and carbohydrates that it is. If you are part of this group, here’s everything you need to know about Miller High Life and it’s calories. Here’s the short answer;

Per 12 fl. oz (355 ml), Miller Lite has 141 calories, with 13 grams of carbs. Per 16 fl. oz can (472 ml), this means there are 188 calories and 17 grams of carbs. This is a very similar calorie and carb count to its counterparts.

However there is lots more to know about this beer. Continue reading to find out the details about the calories and ingredients in this beer. We’ll also compare Miller High Life to other beers, so you’ll have all the information you need to make the best choice for you.

Yes, we do buy and drink the beers we talk about

How Many Calories In Miller High Life (4.6 % ABV)?

Miller High Life has 141 calories per 12 fl. oz (355 ml). This consists of 13 grams of carbs, less than 1 gram of protein and 0 grams of fat. For the 16 fl. oz cans (472 ml, or a US pint), this translates to 188 calories, 17 grams of carbs and less than 1 gram of protein.

This beer is made with water, barley malt, corn syrup, yeast and hop extract. For the hops, Miller High Life uses a mix of Galena and Saaz, which leaves the beer with a stronger hoppy taste. They turn these hops into hops extract, which has several benefits. We’ll explain these further down this post.

If you want to know more about these ingredients and why they were chosen, continue reading.

How Many Calories In Miller High Life Compared To Other Lagers?

Now that we know Miller High Life’s calorie content, let’s compare it to other lagers.

We’ll have a look at some of its counterparts with a similar alcohol level (4.6% – 5%).

We can clearly see that there is no beer that is significantly higher or lower in terms of calories.

If you’re looking for a beer with a similar flavor to Miller High Life, but less calories, we recommend you try Miller Lite. Same brand, less calories.

Beer	Calories (12 fl. oz)
Miller High Life	141
Heineken Original	142
Budweiser	145
Stella Artois	140
Becks	146

If we also look at the amount of carbohydrates we again find that Miller High Life falls right in the middle. Again, if you’re looking for a beer with a lower carb count, we recommend having a look at light beers instead.

Beer	Carbohydrates (12 fl. oz)
Miller High Life	13 grams
Heineken Original	12 grams
Budweiser	11 grams
Stella Artois	17 grams
Becks	11 grams

Miller High Life Ingredients

Miller High Life has 5 ingredients: water, barley malt, corn syrup, yeast and hops extract. Most of these probably sound that unfamiliar to you. Water, barley and yeast are a standard in brewing any beer. However, you might be interested in why Miller High Life has corn syrup and hops extract, instead of normal hops. We’ll explain everything below.

Let’s start with hops extract. Perhaps surprisingly, hops extract is still a pure, natural product without any artificial additives. All that happens is that the oils and flavor are separated from the unnecessary plant parts, leaving you with a sticky resin. This resin is really just a concentrated form of hops, that is perfect to use for beer brewing.

There are several reasons why a brewery might choose to use hops extract over standard hops. First and foremost, is that it provides a different flavor profile. Hops extract’s flavor is often described as ‘clean bitterness’, which you cannot recreate using standard hops. Additionally, the extract is a lot more consistent than standard hops, which varies in flavor. This way, no matter when or where you buy Miller High Life, the taste is always the same.

Another added benefit is the longer shelf life that comes with hops extract, and the fact that there is less beer lost in the process. After all, fewer plants to absorb the beer, means there is less lost during the filtration.

Interestingly, Miller High Life uses a special kind of hops that allows this beer to be sold in clear glass, which helps with the marketing. They are, after all, the only beer brand who does this. Normally, the UV rays from the sun would turn the flavor of this beer moldy, which isn’t ideal.

This is the reason why most beer is sold in brown glass; it does the best job protecting the hops. However, Miller High Life uses a type of light-stable hops that does not change flavor after being exposed to the sun.

Then let’s move to the elephant in the room; corn syrup. This might be scary to see in your ingredients list, especially if you’re trying to consume less carbs. This isn’t necessarily something you should be wary of though, unless you have a corn allergy. Here’s why.

Many different brands add some form of sugar before fermentation, in order to give the beer a more intense flavor, as well as to help with fermentation.

This is especially the case for light lagers, such as Miller Lite, Bud Light and Coors Light, because they use less hops and barley. This results in a beer with a less intense flavor, but also with fewer natural sugars. Beer needs natural sugars, so the can be converted into alcohol by the yeast during the fermentation process.

Although Miller High Life isn’t a light lager, they still add corn syrup for a more intense flavor. Bud Light, for example, uses rice as their sugar. Luckily, the sugar is eaten by the yeast during fermentation, turned into alcohol, and consequently does not end up in the final product.