If you’re like us, somewhere in the back of your mind when you raise a glass to your lips is a nagging little voice that asks, “Do you really need these extra calories?” Moderation is of course important, but at the end of the day, we tend to fall of the side of you only live once, so you might as well enjoy yourself. With that said, it’s worth having a general understanding of how many calories you rack up each day. To help out, we’ve put together a handy little guide of approximately how many calories are in each of our favorite alcoholic beverages.
- Dry wines, 11-14% ABV, 5 oz.: 125 calories
- Champagne, 4 oz.: 95 calories
- Beer, lager: 170 calories
- Cider, 5% ABV: 170 calories
- Vodka/gin/whiskey/rum, 80 proof, 1.5 oz.: 96 calories
Please note that these are just estimates, and that there are many factors that can influence a drink’s caloric count, in particular how much alcohol it contains. Looking at a glass of wine, for example, you’re likely to see the number of calories increase as the percentage of alcohol rises.
Of course all of these numbers are also dependent on how big your pour is. The beer and cider numbers are based on a standard bottle size, but when it comes to wine, most of us tend to pour a bit more than the standard 5 ounces. According to a study conducted by a group of professors from Iowa State and Cornell universities, factors such as the size of the glass and the color of the wine have an effect on how much people pour. In wider wine glasses, people pour around 12% more. And when pouring white wine, people pour 9% more, as its color stands out less in the glass compared with red wine.
We conducted our own little experiment and found that we actually under poured slightly. We were kinda shocked, but think the smaller size of our everyday use wine glasses is likely the cause.
Our bodies can only process one unit of alcohol per hour, which means anything more than this stays in our bloodstream. Being a bit tipsy can certainly be fun, but as we all know it also impairs judgement. As we get drunker, this can easily lead to heavier pours and more intense snacking (guilty on both counts).
How you use this info is of course completely up to you. And hey, depending on your weight, it only takes about 10 minutes of running to burn off a glass of wine.