Foam hides the real surprise: darker, yeast-rich beers often carry more vitamin B than the crisp light lagers that dominate sales. In the brewing process, B vitamins sit in malt, yeast and the microscopic protein haze; when beer is heavily filtered, much of that nutrition goes down the drain with spent yeast and sediment.
Stouts and porters tend to win this quiet race, because roasted barley and higher original gravity leave more niacin, riboflavin and folate in the final glass. Unfiltered wheat beers and some bottle-conditioned ales also score well, since live or dormant Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells retain thiamine and vitamin B6 that support myocardial metabolism, red blood cell production and neurotransmitter synthesis linked to mood.
By contrast, ultra-light lagers, aggressively filtered pilsners and low-carb beers usually deliver far less of the B complex per serving. That gap matters only at the margins: even a vitamin-rich stout is not a multivitamin and cannot substitute for dietary sources such as whole grains, legumes and leafy greens. Cardiologists and nutrition researchers still anchor their advice on moderation, because ethanol raises blood pressure, strains hepatic detoxification pathways and, at higher intake, erodes exactly the cardiovascular and immune benefits drinkers hope to gain from those extra B vitamins.
