Free Nutrition Calculator

Alcohol Calories Calculator

Find out how many calories are in your favourite drinks — beer, wine, spirits, and cocktails. See how alcohol fits into your daily calorie budget.

Calculate Alcohol Calories ↓

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Add multiple drinks to calculate your total calorie intake for the evening.

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total calories
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Pure alcohol (g)
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Min of running to burn off
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of 2000 kcal daily target

Calories in common drinks

Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram — more than protein and carbs (4 kcal/g each), but less than fat (9 kcal/g).

Drink Serving Calories Alcohol (g)
Beer (light)330ml10311g
Beer (regular, 5%)330ml15313g
Red wine150ml12517g
White wine150ml12116g
Champagne150ml11817g
Vodka / Gin / Rum40ml9613g
Gin & Tonic250ml18213g
Mojito250ml16813g
Margarita200ml27420g
Cider330ml15515g

How alcohol calories are calculated

Alcohol provides 7 calories per gram of pure ethanol — a fixed physical property, not an estimate. The calorie values in this calculator combine that fixed alcohol calorie count with the calories from any sugars, mixers, or residual carbohydrates in each drink (which is why a sugary cocktail has far more calories than a spirit of the same alcohol content served with soda water). Standard serving sizes and ABV percentages are based on typical commercial servings and labelling in most countries.

Actual pour sizes vary significantly by venue and by how a drink is made — a home-poured glass of wine is often larger than the standard 150ml serving used here, and bartenders don't always measure spirits precisely. Cocktail recipes also vary between bars, so the values shown are reasonable averages, not exact figures for any specific drink you're served. If you want a precise number for a specific brand or recipe, check the product's own nutrition information where available.

Frequently asked questions about alcohol calories

Cocktails combine the fixed calories from alcohol with additional calories from sugar, syrups, juice, and cream-based mixers — a Margarita, for example, adds triple sec and sweet-and-sour mix on top of the tequila itself. A plain spirit with soda water or a diet mixer keeps calories close to just the alcohol content, which is why 'skinny' cocktail recipes usually swap sugary mixers for zero-calorie ones.
At a moderate pace, running burns roughly 10 kcal per minute for an average adult, so a 150-calorie glass of wine takes about 15 minutes of running to 'offset' calorie-for-calorie. This calculator shows this comparison mainly for perspective on serving sizes, not as a literal suggestion to exercise off alcohol — that framing can encourage an unhealthy relationship with both food and exercise.
Usually, but not always by a huge margin, and not universally. Light beers typically have lower alcohol content and/or fewer residual carbs from the brewing process, which reduces calories somewhat — but the reduction is often modest (20-30%) rather than dramatic, and some 'light' labelled beers in certain markets refer to lower carbs specifically rather than lower calories. Check the specific product if precision matters.
Yes — alcohol calories are real calories and count toward total energy balance the same as food, even though alcohol provides no essential nutrients. If you're tracking calories for weight management, it's worth logging drinks the same way you'd log a meal, since 'liquid calories' from a night of drinking can add up to a substantial portion of a daily target without much sense of fullness.

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