MLE 🍺

MLE — Miller-Lite-Equivalents

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What is MLE?

Miller Lite is about as close to a universal price reference as beer gets — 4.2% ABV, and roughly a dollar a can practically everywhere (a 24-pack runs about $24 at any grocery store or gas station). That makes it a fair yardstick: 1 MLE is the amount of pure alcohol in one 12oz Miller Lite. Any beer's MLE tells you how many Miller-Lites-worth of alcohol it contains, once you account for its own ABV and serving size. Divide by price and you get MLE/$ — how much alcohol you're actually getting for your money.

Why not just compare ABV%? Because ABV alone ignores serving size and price. A strong beer in a small, expensive pour can be a worse deal than a milder beer in a full pint for less — MLE/$ accounts for all three at once instead of just one. 

MLE       = (ABV / 100 × ounces) / (4.2 / 100 × 12)
MLE per $ = MLE / price

A few examples

BeerABVServingPriceMLEMLE/$
Miller Lite
the yardstick
 4.2% 12oz $1.00 1.00 1.00
West Coast Ripe
10oz draft
 7% 10oz $7.00 1.39 0.20
West Coast Ripe
16oz draft
 7% 16oz $10.00 2.22 0.22
Imperial Stout
snifter pour
 9.5% 10oz $9.00 1.88 0.21
Light Domestic Draft
pint
 4.5% 16oz $3.00 1.43 0.48

West Coast Ripe is listed at two pour sizes on the actual menu ("10oz Draft $7 · 16oz Draft $10"), and each gets ranked on its own instead of picking one to represent the beer — the smaller pour here is a noticeably worse deal than the pint. Upload a menu with multiple sizes per beer and every option gets ranked the same way.

The imperial stout has the highest ABV on the list but the worst MLE/$ — a small, pricey pour eats up its advantage. The plain domestic draft, cheap and full-pour, actually wins on value even though it's the weakest beer here. That's the whole point: MLE/$ ranks what you're actually getting for your money, not just what's printed on the tap handle.

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