"I don't drink beer because it makes me bloated." "I only drink vodka because beer has too many calories."
We're sure you've heard enough similar statements with regards to beer being too caloric. But how does it compare to other popular alcoholic drinks?
Let's first compare some popular drinks (other than beer)
Whiskey (105 calories per 1.5oz)
Vodka (96 calories per 1.5oz)
Gin (109.5 calories per 1.5oz)
Wine (average between red and white) (120 calories per 5oz)
Now let's take a look at beer. This graph shows an estimate of calories per serving size with varying ABV amounts. Multiply the ABV by 2.5, then multiply that by the number of ounces in your beer. So: Ounces (ABV * 2.5) = rough calorie estimate.
This is from the calculator here
So there's clearly a lot of variation in calorie content depending on the ABV of your beer. For the amount of alcohol your body consumes, calories in beer are pretty similar to your typical wine.
Its really not that much more caloric than your typical drinks, especially when you factor in that spirits are consumed as mixed drinks. A rum and coke for example will quickly exceed 150 calories!
We hope this graph acts as a convenient tool in estimating calories. Of course, depending on the beer, they can become more or less caloric. Some breweries are starting to add the nutritional information on their beer, and we hope this becomes a growing trend.