DrinkWire is Liquor.com’s showcase for the best articles, recipe and reviews from the web’s top writers and bloggers. In this post, Pancakes and Whiskey talks how whiskey affects our waistline.

If you’re reading this site, you’re likely not drinking things like skinny margaritas or canned water, I mean, light beer.

Ok, I hope you’re not. On a recent trip to Nashville, while I was having some tasty bourbon in a local watering hole, someone said to me, “Sometimes, you just want to crush a six pack of Miller Lite.” I was hoping he meant with his car, but alas, he meant drinking it. I’ll admit, I used to drink Heineken. Then I discovered Stone Brew’s IPA (back when IPAs were a novelty, not a standard) and never looked back. But, an IPA is a bit higher in calories than things ending in Lite.

Crush too many beers that have flavor, and you end up with a beer gut. So, if you’ve acquired a taste for whiskey, how many calories are you getting? Will you end up with a “whiskey waist?”

14 ounces of beer (bar pint) = 6 ounces of table wine = 1.5 ounces of spirits

Let's talk calories.

*The calories vary slightly by proof, with 100+ proof having the most calories. Whiskey means any unflavored whiskies: rye, bourbon, American, Scotch

From light beer to higher ABVs (sugar is in the form of carbohydrates or actual added sugars like honey), there are more calories.

From dry wine to fortified (like port) – late harvest wines have even more sugar.

To give you an idea what a whiskey cocktail adds up to (since not everyone drinks their whiskey neat or on the rocks) here are a couple standard recipes:

The moral of the story: a whiskey cocktail is about the equivalent of a decent pint of beer (decent is defined as having taste) or a glass of a sweeter wine.

Drink your whiskey neat and save calories!

Article By: Jeanne Runkle