Knowing what’s actually in your drink is harder than it should be. Pubs and restaurants rarely display ABV; supermarkets show it in small print; cocktail menus give you ingredients but not totals. The result is that most drinkers operate on rough impressions of what they’re consuming, which is one of the larger sources of underestimation in self-reported drinking. This guide covers what the major drink categories contain, how to read the numbers, and the patterns worth knowing if you’re tracking what you drink.
This is the pillar of our Drinks Database hub. Sub-articles will go deeper on specific categories (wine, spirits, beer brands, cocktails, hard seltzers) as the hub fills out.
# The three numbers that matter
For any drink, three numbers tell you most of what you need to know:
Volume: how much liquid is in the glass, in millilitres or ounces.
ABV: the percentage of that liquid that is alcohol.
Calories: the energy content of the drink, mostly determined by alcohol content plus carbohydrates and sugar.
From volume and ABV, you can calculate units (or US standard drinks, or grams of pure alcohol) using the formula in our Alcohol Units hub. From volume and ABV plus the carbohydrate content, you can estimate calories.
For most tracking purposes, knowing volume and ABV is enough. Modern tracking apps (including AlcoLog) auto-calculate units and calories from these two values.
# Beer
Beer covers a wider range of strengths than people typically credit:
Light or session beers (3-4% ABV): 35-50 calories per 100ml. A pint (568ml) runs 150-220 calories. UK examples: Carling, Foster’s, Carlsberg. Modern session IPAs sit at the top of this range.
Standard lagers (4.5-5.5% ABV): 40-55 calories per 100ml. A pint runs 200-260 calories. Most popular UK and European lagers fall here: Heineken, Stella Artois, Birra Moretti, Estrella Damm.
Pale ales and IPAs (5-7% ABV): 45-65 calories per 100ml. A pint runs 220-330 calories. The craft beer category sits mostly here.
Strong IPAs and DIPAs (7-9% ABV): 65-90 calories per 100ml. A pint runs 320-500 calories. The strongest mainstream beer category.
Stouts and porters (4-9% ABV): 50-100 calories per 100ml depending on strength. Guinness Draught (4.2%) is 35 cal/100ml or 200 cal per pint.
Imperial and barrel-aged beers (9-12% ABV): 90-130 calories per 100ml. A pint can exceed 600 calories. Often sold in 330ml bottles rather than pints.
Cider (4.5-7% ABV): 45-70 calories per 100ml. A pint runs 200-360 calories.
We cover beer specifically in detail in Calories in Beer: Every Major Brand Compared.
# Wine
Wine has narrower strength variation than beer but more variation in serving size:
Light whites (10-12% ABV): 75-85 calories per 100ml. A standard 175ml glass: 130-150 calories. Examples: most German Rieslings, lighter Pinot Grigios, Sauvignon Blancs.
Standard whites (12-13% ABV): 80-90 calories per 100ml. A 175ml glass: 140-160 calories. Most Chardonnays, drier whites.
Standard reds (13-14% ABV): 85-100 calories per 100ml. A 175ml glass: 150-175 calories. Most Cabernets, Merlots, Sangiovese.
Heavy reds (14-15.5% ABV): 95-115 calories per 100ml. A 175ml glass: 165-200 calories. Shiraz, Malbec, Zinfandel, Amarone, big Californian reds.
Champagne and prosecco (11-12% ABV): 75-85 calories per 100ml. A standard 125ml flute: 95-105 calories.
Rosé (10-13.5% ABV): 75-95 calories per 100ml. Variable by style.
Sweet wines (8-12% ABV): 90-150 calories per 100ml. Higher residual sugar lifts the calorie count above the alcohol contribution alone.
Fortified wines (15-22% ABV): 130-180 calories per 100ml. Sherry, port, Madeira. Usually served in 50-75ml pours rather than full glass.
A standard bottle of wine (750ml) at 13% ABV: 9.75 UK units, around 600-650 calories total. Spread across 4-5 standard glasses.
We cover wine specifically in Calories in Wine: Red, White, Rosé, Champagne, in the Alcohol Calories hub.
# Spirits
Spirits are denser per ml because of higher ABV:
Standard 40% ABV spirits: 220-240 calories per 100ml. A UK pub measure of 25ml: 56-60 calories. A US 1.5oz shot (44ml): 96-105 calories.
This category covers most vodka, gin, rum, tequila, whisky, and brandy. The calorie content is essentially the same across these categories at matched ABV; the differences in flavour don’t translate to meaningful calorie differences.
Higher-ABV spirits (45-50%): 270-300 calories per 100ml. Many cask-strength whiskies, navy-strength gins, overproof rums.
Cask-strength and overproof spirits (50-65%): 300-400 calories per 100ml. Specialty bottles, drinking neat or in small quantities.
Lower-ABV spirits and aperitifs (15-25%): 100-200 calories per 100ml depending on sugar content. Aperol, Campari, vermouth, lower-ABV craft spirits.
The calorie deception with spirits comes from mixers, not the spirits themselves. A 25ml shot of vodka is 56 calories. A vodka and tonic is 56 + 80-90 calories from the tonic = 140 calories. A vodka and Coke is 56 + 90-100 calories from the cola = 150 calories.
Switching to diet mixers brings cocktail calories close to the spirit alone. Vodka and slimline tonic: 56 + 4 = 60 calories. Vodka and Diet Coke: 56 + 1 = 57 calories.
We cover spirits specifically in Calories in Spirits: Vodka, Gin, Whisky, Rum, Tequila, in the Alcohol Calories hub.
# Cocktails
Cocktail calories vary enormously based on what’s in them:
Spirit-and-mixer cocktails (gin and tonic, vodka soda, whisky and ginger): 100-200 calories. The mixer determines most of the calorie load.
Classic neat or shaken cocktails (martini, manhattan, old fashioned, negroni): 150-250 calories. Higher than spirit-only because of vermouths, bitters, and small sugar content.
Sweet cocktails (margarita, daiquiri, mojito): 200-350 calories. Sugar from triple sec, simple syrup, or fruit juice adds substantially.
Multi-spirit cocktails (long island iced tea, zombies, certain tikis): 300-500 calories. Multiple alcohol bases plus often substantial sugar.
Cream-based cocktails (white russian, espresso martini, piña colada, mudslide): 300-700 calories. Cream and ice cream add fat calories on top of alcohol and sugar.
Frozen cocktails at large American chains: 400-1,000+ calories. Large frozen margaritas at Applebee’s, Chili’s, etc. can exceed many full meals.
The pattern: clear cocktails (mixer-based) tend to be lower calorie; coloured or creamy cocktails tend to be higher.
For tracking, the cocktail calorie estimation is harder than other categories because recipes vary. AlcoLog’s catalogue includes the most common cocktails with typical recipes; for unusual ones, the Add Drink screen lets you specify volume and ABV to estimate.
# Hard seltzers and ready-to-drink
The hard seltzer category exploded after 2018 and has become its own meaningful drink type:
Standard hard seltzers (4-5% ABV): 90-110 calories per 330ml can. White Claw, Truly, High Noon, Vizzy.
Premium or specialty hard seltzers (5-6%): 110-150 calories per can. Some craft variants and limited editions run higher.
Ready-to-drink cocktails (5-9%): 150-300 calories per can depending on sugar content and alcohol level. Premixed margaritas, mojitos, and similar in 250-330ml cans.
Alcopops (4-5% ABV): 150-250 calories per 275-330ml bottle. Heavily sweetened. WKD, Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Breezer.
The hard seltzer category is genuinely lower-calorie than most beer and most cocktails at similar alcohol content. The “low calorie alcohol” marketing is approximately accurate for hard seltzers, unlike the “light beer” marketing which produces only modest savings.
# Cider
Cider sits between beer and wine in many ways:
Standard cider (4.5-5% ABV): 40-55 calories per 100ml. A pint runs 220-310 calories.
Premium and craft cider (5-7% ABV): 50-65 calories per 100ml. A pint runs 280-370 calories.
Strong cider (7-8.5% ABV): 65-80 calories per 100ml. Sometimes sold in 500ml bottles rather than pints.
White cider (7.5-8.5% ABV): cheap, very strong, often associated with problem drinking. 70-80 calories per 100ml.
Sweet cider: residual sugar adds 10-30% to calorie count over dry cider at matched alcohol.
# Reading drink labels
Most alcoholic drinks display ABV on the label, but not always prominently. UK and EU labels are required to show ABV; US labels are inconsistent (wine labels show ABV, beer labels often don’t, spirits sometimes show “proof” instead).
The conversions:
- Proof to ABV: divide by 2 (US system). 80 proof = 40% ABV.
- “Strong beer” or “premium” labels: usually mean 5%+ but sometimes mean 7%+. Check the actual ABV.
- “Light” or “lite” labels: usually 3.5-4.5%, but check the specific number.
For volume, look for “ml” or “oz” on the bottle. Beer cans typically 330ml, 440ml, or 500ml. Wine bottles 750ml. Spirits 700ml in UK/EU, 750ml in US.
# What this means for tracking
For people tracking what they drink:
# Record the drink, not just “wine” or “beer”
The strength variation within categories is large enough that “had a pint of beer” doesn’t capture useful information. “Pint of 4% Carling” or “pint of 6.5% Punk IPA” gives you the alcohol load.
# Use category averages when specific ABV unknown
If you can’t find or remember the exact ABV, the category averages above are reasonable defaults:
- “Lager” = 4.5%
- “Wine” = 13%
- “Cocktail” = 2 UK units unless very small or very large
- “Cider” = 5%
- “Spirit” = 40%
# Account for serving size variation
A “glass of wine” can be 125ml, 175ml, 200ml, or 250ml. A “pint” can be 568ml (UK) or 473ml (US). A “shot” can be 25ml (UK pub), 35ml (some UK venues), or 44ml (US). Recording the actual size produces more accurate totals than recording “a glass” or “a pint.”
# Don’t trust round numbers in your memory
“I had three pints” remembered three days later might have been 4 or 5. Tracking at the moment is more accurate than tracking from memory.
We cover the recall failure patterns in Why You Always Underestimate How Much You Drink.
# How AlcoLog handles the database
AlcoLog ships with a catalogue of 273 drinks across 87 size presets. The catalogue covers:
- 84 beers by brand with accurate ABV
- 40+ wines by varietal and style
- All major spirits and liqueurs
- 40+ cocktails with typical recipes
- Hard seltzers, RTDs, and alcopops
- Cider, mead, and other specialty drinks
For drinks not in the catalogue, the Add Drink screen accepts custom entries with volume and ABV. The unit and calorie calculations happen automatically.
The data stays on your device. Catalogue updates ship with app updates rather than requiring a server connection.
