26 classic cocktails, each with exact measures and its calories, carbs, sugar and strength worked out from USDA FoodData Central and our own spirit data. Sort them, filter by spirit, and see which mixers and liqueurs carry the sugar.
The lowest calorie cocktails are a spirit and soda water: a vodka soda, tequila soda or whiskey highball is 98 calories with no sugar, about the same as a light beer or a hard seltzer. A skinny margarita is 140, a gin and tonic 141, and the piña colada tops the list at 358.
Per drink as written in the recipes below. "Std" is US standard drinks of 14 g of alcohol each. Tap a drink for its recipe.
No cocktails for that spirit.
Alcohol is the biggest single source. A 1½ oz pour of any 80 proof spirit is 98 calories, all of it from the alcohol's 7 calories per gram, and in 24 of these 26 drinks alcohol supplies at least half the total. Sugar from juice, soda, syrup and liqueur is the rest, and cream of coconut adds fat.
That is why "skinny" versions mostly work by pouring less. Per standard drink of alcohol, the classic margarita is 117 calories and the skinny one 140. For comparison, a 12 oz Michelob Ultra is 93, a White Claw 100, and a 5 oz glass of dry white wine 114.
The mixer decides most of the gap between a 98 calorie highball and a 160 calorie one. Per 4 oz, the pour in every highball above:
USDA FoodData Central; branded diet and light mixers and the grapefruit soda from their USDA label entries (sources below).
In the stirred and shaken drinks, the sugar comes from these. Plain spirits have none, so swapping or trimming one of these is the single biggest sugar cut in a margarita, an espresso martini or a Negroni.
Liqueur and vermouth sugar as measured by Vinmonopolet, Norway's state retailer, which publishes grams per liter for every bottle it sells. Simple syrup is 1:1 sugar and water by volume.
The three lowest calorie drinks here for each base. Every spirit is 98 calories per 1½ oz at 80 proof, so the order comes from the mixer. Each spirit links to its brands ranked by chemistry.
Under half a gram: vodka soda, tequila soda, whiskey highball, ranch water and dry martini. With diet tonic, diet cola or diet ginger beer, gin and tonic, Rum and Coke and Moscow mule join them. Under 5 g:
Bottles by sugar: lowest sugar alcohol.
Carbs include the sugar plus the rest of what juice and tomato carry. Under 5 g per drink:
Bottles and cans by carbs: low carb alcohol.
Lowest calorie first. Spirits are 80 proof, the legal minimum for US vodka, whiskey, rum and tequila; a 90 proof spirit adds about 12 calories per 1½ oz. ABV is the mix before ice melts into it. 16 drinks list a lighter swap.
A shot of vodka and soda water over ice. The drink most people mean when they ask for something light.
Build over ice in a tall glass and squeeze in a lime wedge. A full squeeze adds 1 to 2 calories and is not counted.
Blanco tequila and soda water with lime. Same math as a vodka soda.
Build over ice and squeeze in a lime wedge (not counted).
Bourbon or any whiskey, lengthened with cold soda water.
Fill a tall glass with ice, add the whiskey, top with soda and stir once. A lemon twist is optional.
West Texas tequila highball: blanco, fresh lime and sparkling mineral water, traditionally Topo Chico.
Pour the tequila and lime over ice and top with sparkling mineral water. Plain mineral water and club soda both carry no calories.
Brut sparkling wine and orange juice in equal parts.
Pour the sparkling wine first, then top with chilled orange juice. No stirring.
Vodka, tomato juice and lemon, seasoned to taste. Tomato juice is one of the lightest mixers there is.
Roll between two tins with ice, or stir, with 2 dashes each of Worcestershire and hot sauce and a pinch of celery salt and pepper (not counted). Bottled Bloody Mary mixes differ: check the label.
Tequila, fresh lime and a quarter ounce of agave, lengthened with soda water.
Shake the tequila, lime and agave with ice, strain over fresh ice and top with the soda water.
Gin with regular tonic. Tonic tastes bitter, but it is sweetened about as much as ginger ale.
Build over ice, stir gently and add a lime wedge (not counted).
Vodka, ginger beer and lime. Ginger beer is the sweetest mixer in most highballs.
Fill a mug with ice, add the vodka and lime, top with ginger beer and stir once.
Bourbon, a little sugar and bitters. Strong, short and lower in sugar than it tastes.
Stir with ice for 20 to 30 seconds, strain over one large cube and express an orange peel over the top. The peel is not counted.
White rum and cola. Add a squeeze of lime and it is a Cuba libre.
Tequila and grapefruit soda with lime, the highball Mexico drinks more than the margarita.
Salt half the rim if you like (not counted), fill with ice, add tequila and lime, and top with grapefruit soda.
Vodka and orange juice. The juice carries most of the calories.
Prosecco, Aperol and soda in the 3-2-1 build. Low in alcohol, but Aperol is 250 g of sugar per liter.
Fill a wine glass with ice, add the prosecco, then the Aperol, then the soda, and add an orange slice. Any brut sparkling wine works.
Vodka and cranberry juice cocktail, the Cape Codder.
Build over ice and stir. A lime wedge is optional and not counted.
Vodka, Cointreau, lime and a splash of cranberry.
White rum, lime, mint and sugar, topped with soda water.
Gently press 8 mint leaves with the syrup and lime, add rum and crushed ice, stir, and top with soda. The mint is not counted.
Equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. Two of the three are sweetened.
Gin and a little dry vermouth, stirred. Almost no sugar, but it is mostly spirit.
Stir with ice for 30 seconds and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with an olive or a lemon twist (not counted). A vodka martini has the same numbers.
Bourbon, lemon and sugar, shaken. Made fresh, not from sour mix.
Shake hard with ice and strain over fresh ice. An egg white for foam adds about 17 calories, nearly all protein (USDA 172183: 52 calories per 100 g, 33 g in a large white).
The classic shaken one: rum, lime and sugar. Not the frozen strawberry kind.
Shake hard with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.
Vodka, coffee liqueur and fresh espresso, shaken until it foams.
Shake hard with ice for 15 seconds and double strain into a chilled coupe. Three coffee beans on top are traditional.
What many bars and blenders pour: tequila stretched with sweet-and-sour mix.
Shake or blend with ice. USDA lists bottled margarita mix at 21.4 g of sugar per 100 g, which is where these calories come from.
Vodka, gin, rum, tequila and Cointreau with lemon, syrup and a splash of cola. No tea.
Shake everything but the cola with ice, strain into an ice-filled glass and top with the cola.
Tequila, orange liqueur and lime in the classic 2:1:1. Most of its weight is the alcohol, not the sugar.
Shake hard with ice and strain into a salt-rimmed glass over fresh ice. The salt is not counted.
White rum, cream of coconut and pineapple juice, blended with ice.
Blend with a cup of ice until smooth, or shake hard and strain over crushed ice.
A spirit with soda water: a vodka soda, tequila soda or whiskey highball is 98 calories with 1½ oz of 80 proof spirit and 4 oz of soda, and every one of those calories is alcohol. Ranch water adds half an ounce of lime for 104. Of the 26 classics here, 8 come in under 150 calories. The heaviest is the piña colada at 358.
vodka soda, tequila soda, whiskey highball, ranch water and dry martini have essentially none (under half a gram). Among drinks with a sweet element, the Bloody Mary has 3.6 g and the old fashioned 4.1 g. Diet tonic, diet cola or diet ginger beer takes a gin and tonic, a rum and Coke or a Moscow mule to nearly zero as well.
About 235 calories, 9.5 g of carbs and 7.5 g of sugar for the classic 2 oz tequila, 1 oz Cointreau and 1 oz lime. Most of that is alcohol: it is 2 standard drinks. A margarita from a bottled mix is 206 calories with 27 g of sugar. USDA's survey database, which reflects drinks as Americans report them, lists a margarita at 275 calories and 36 g of sugar for a typical 225 g drink. Every version, from the IBA spec to frozen and Tommy's, is on the margarita calories page.
About 140 calories and 7.3 g of sugar for 1½ oz tequila, 1 oz lime, ¼ oz agave and 2 oz soda water. It saves 95 calories against the classic, but mostly by holding half as much alcohol: per standard drink, the skinny one is 140 calories and the classic 117. Light and skinny bottled mixes are compared on the margarita calories page.
98 calories with 1½ oz of 80 proof vodka, and 131 with a 2 oz pour. Soda water has no calories, so the number is the vodka's alone: 7 calories per gram of alcohol. Flavored vodkas can carry sugar; unflavored ones have none (USDA).
Not as low as it looks. Regular tonic is sweetened: 4 oz adds 11 g of sugar, so a gin and tonic is 141 calories. Light tonic brings it to 116 and diet tonic to 98, the same as a vodka soda.
About 197 calories and 16 g of sugar for 1½ oz vodka, 1 oz Kahlúa, 1 oz espresso and ¼ oz simple syrup. Nearly all the sugar is the coffee liqueur, which Vinmonopolet measures at 390 g per liter. Our espresso martini calories page has the caffeine and the lighter builds. Skipping the syrup and halving the Kahlúa gives 141 calories and 5.8 g of sugar.
About 151 calories and 4.1 g of sugar for 2 oz bourbon, ¼ oz simple syrup and 2 dashes of bitters. The sugar is small; the drink is 1.37 standard drinks. A 90 proof bourbon adds about 16 calories. Our old fashioned calories page has every build and bottle.
About 163 calories and 16 g of sugar in the 3-2-1 build (3 oz prosecco, 2 oz Aperol, 1 oz soda). Aperol is only 11% alcohol but holds 250 g of sugar per liter (Vinmonopolet), so it supplies most of the sugar. One ounce of Aperol and two of soda bring it to 115 calories.
On calories and sugar, a spirit with soda water, diet tonic or fresh citrus: a vodka soda, ranch water, a tequila soda or a gin and diet tonic, all 98 to 104 calories with no meaningful sugar. Ask for a standard 1½ oz pour, since every extra half ounce of 80 proof adds 33 calories, and fresh lime instead of sour mix. The bigger lever is how many: two of anything doubles it.
Yes. Unflavored spirits have no carbohydrate (USDA), so vodka soda (0 g), tequila soda (0 g), whiskey highball (0 g), dry martini (0.3 g), ranch water (1.3 g) and old fashioned (4.1 g) all stay under 5 g of carbs. Juice, regular soda, liqueurs and syrups are where the carbs are. For bottles and cans by carbs, see low carb alcohol.
They can. In a lab study, the same dose of vodka mixed with diet soda produced a higher peak breath alcohol than with the regular version (0.091 vs 0.077), and drinkers did not notice the difference (Marczinski and Stamates 2013). A 2015 follow-up found the same at two doses. A diet mixer saves calories, not alcohol: pace it the same way.
At 80 proof they are all the same: about 98 calories per 1½ oz for vodka, gin, tequila, rum or whiskey, with no carbs or sugar (USDA). Proof is what changes it: every 10 proof adds about 12 calories to a 1½ oz pour. For the cleanest bottles by chemistry, see the healthiest vodka and healthiest tequila rankings.
About 358 calories and 33 g of sugar for 2 oz rum, 1½ oz cream of coconut and 1½ oz pineapple juice, the heaviest drink here. Only 36% of its calories are alcohol; the sweetened cream of coconut supplies most of the rest. Cutting it to ½ oz with 3 oz of pineapple juice gives 249 calories.