I’ve recently started a diet, and am counting the calories that I consume. One thing I do a lot of is drink alcohol on the weekends (I’m in school, what can I say?). It is hard to count the calories on alcoholic beverages, and the alcohol content since most drinks don’t have labels on them.
What I’m looking to find out is: What is the best drink for the calorie? Since ethyl alcohol has calories itself, I would assume something like ever clear that is almost pure EtOH*, but what about regular drinks like Rum, Vodka, Gin, etc? Also, what about beer? Is a light beer actually worth it? The easiest way to remove calories is to remove EtOH. Would it be better to drink one regular beer then two lights for example?
EtOH= Ethyl Alcohol, the chemical name for the alcohol we drink
Many years ago (long before I was of legal drinking age) ol’ Cecil did a Straight Dope column on the alcohol content of light beer—I have always remembered it, and thanks to Cecil’s wisdom I can count on one hand the times I have ever had a light (or lite) beer…
I try and limit calories as well, but I don’t see any wisdom in drinking something with less than 3.2% alcohol, as in order to get a bit of a drunk on, I would need to slam a 12-pack.
Common sense would suggest vodka, which is basically just alcohol and water - the only calories in it will be from the alcohol. So if you’re purely interested in maximum alcohol for minimum calories, go for vodka straight up, on the rocks or with soda water.
Your reasoning makes sense, but the web site given by Hazle Weatherfield lists Vodka at 73 calories per an oz, and Rum at 64 calories. Both are 80 proof (40% EtOH by volume).
So, whats the straight dope? Why is the Rum more? Also, just how far down is it possible to go? Is 1 gram of EtOH 4 calories like normal carbohydrates are?
I have always heard that Rum & Diet Coke, with or without lime, is the most diet-friendly mixed drink, if mixed drinks are your thing. I didn’t know that rum actually has fewer calories than vodka, that’s interesting. I too, would have assumed they were the same, at the same proof.
Vodka is nothing but ethanol and water (with various non-food-energy congeners depending on the quality of the distillation). An 80 proof vodka does not contain more food energy than an 80 proof rum. King Calorie’s subjects made an error somewhere along the way.
Ok, by my calculations then, there is 88kcal per a 30mL shot of a 40% alcohol in just the EtOH alone. Since Rum is my drink of choice, what does the non-EtOH parts of rum add?
Very little. Pure distilled spirits are basically alcohol, water and other chemical compounds either present in the original fermented substance, created by the yeast during fermentation, leached from a wood barrel during aging, or herbal essential oils introduced during distillation.
These compounds are present in very small quantities, and aren’t really anything that would add calories in any way, shape or form.
That’s not to say that distillers don’t add sugars or other stuff to certain drinks (various liqueurs, all the irish cream variants, some dark rums, etc…) but generally speaking, spirits like rum, gin, whiskey, vodka and brandy get almost all their calories from alcohol.
Your best best, as far as proof per calorie goes, are those spirits I just mentioned. Mixing with diet coke, diet ginger ale or diet tonic water wouldn’t add significant calories either.
Another strategy, if you really don’t dig either straight spirits or diet mixers, might be to look for the higher proof versions of the usual spirits. You can find most of them in roughly 100 proof versions (gin, vodka, whiskey), and rum in 151 proof. That way, you could just drink fewer of the normal drinks to get the same effect, and ultimately save yourself a drink or two worth of the mixer calories.
For those of us in places without alcohol blue laws, light beer is 4.2%. Regular is 5.0 or so for Bud/Miller/Coors. Isn’t regular beer 3.2% in Utah? I am so sorry.
