Low-carb beer is still beer

Coors Brewing Co. offered a sneak sip of Aspen’s latest namesake product Thursday night, introducing its low-carb contender, Aspen Edge, at an In Style Magazine soiree.

How I got on the guest list, I’ll never know. In fact, I didn’t, but they let me in anyway, even though I wasn’t wearing the requisite black.

As a resident of the Aspen Edge condos and a carb-counting, occasional boozer, I figured I was uniquely qualified to judge the Colorado brewer’s attempt at low-carbo libation.

I couldn’t help but note, though, that many of the other women mingling at the Baldwin Gallery and a lot of the men were reaching for glasses of wine or the free martinis.

Feeling conspicuously out of place, I hid in the basement level, where I cornered local architect Eric Wood, mostly because he, too, was wearing blue jeans and sampling an Aspen Edge. He’s slimming down for his May wedding to Aspen Magazine staffer Casey Collins, he confided.

Aspen’s mayor was there, too, trying the light lager, even though she’s a wine drinker (and her dad was an Anheiser-Busch distributor).

Just this week, Coors rolled out Aspen Edge in 11 states in the Northeast, as well as Texas, according to Ashley Selman, assistant brand manager for the new product.

It will be available nationally by summer and in Colorado in a couple of weeks, she said.

For the record, a bottle of Aspen Edge contains 2.6 grams of carbs and 94 calories. It’s alcohol content is 4.13 percent.

Coors Light, by the way, contains 5 grams of carbs and 102 calories.

In my humble opinion, neither is anything to write home about, but, hey, it’s beer, and when is beer a bad thing?

[Janet Urquhart’s e-mail address is janet@aspentimes.com]