How Many Calories in Whiskey?
How many calories in whiskey is a short sum: 53 kcal in a single 25 ml measure, 105 in a double, from a spirit that measures 222 kcal per 100 g at 40% strength. Add 150 ml of cola and the glass gains another 63 kcal; add a diet mixer and it gains one.
You'd need to walk about 11 minutes to burn the 53 calories in a single 25 ml measure.
How long does it take to burn off whiskey?
A single 25 ml measure is 53 kcal. Enter your weight and the amount you ate to see how long it takes you to burn that off:
lb ml
| Activity | Time to burn 53 kcal |
|---|---|
| Walking, brisk | 11 min |
| Cycling, moderate | 7 min |
| Swimming, moderate | 8 min |
| Jogging | 6 min |
| Weight training, moderate | 12 min |
Times are for a 154 lb (11 st) adult at a steady pace; change the weight to see yours. The amount is set to the portion in the text (25 ml); change it to what you actually drank. BodyPal works this out from your steps automatically.
On this page
- Quick facts
- Singles, doubles and what the mixer adds
- Scotch, bourbon, Irish: does the bottle matter?
- How does whiskey compare?
- The dark colour myth
- Most popular whisky brands
- Whiskey FAQs
Quick facts
Figures are for spirits at 40% volume, per 100 g.
| Per 100 g | Amount | % RI* |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 222 kcal (929 kJ) | 11% |
| Protein | 0 g | 0% |
| Carbohydrate | trace | 0% |
| Fat | 0 g | 0% |
| Fibre | 0 g | – |
| Sugar | trace | 0% |
| Salt | 0 g | 0% |
*RI = reference intake of an average adult (2,000 kcal). Distilled spirits are effectively alcohol and water: no fat, no protein, only traces of carbohydrate, so all of the energy comes from the alcohol itself.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from CoFID, the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified August 2026. How we verify our data →
That last line is the whole story of spirit calories. There is nothing to trim, swap or choose "light" here. The only variables you control are the size of the pour and what you top it with.
Singles, doubles and what the mixer adds
UK bars pour in 25 ml singles (some houses use 35 ml, so ask), and the arithmetic stacks neatly:
- Single, 25 ml: ~53 kcal
- Double, 50 ml: ~105 kcal
- Single with 150 ml cola: ~116 kcal (the mixer adds 63)
- Single with a diet mixer: ~54 kcal (the mixer adds about 1)
Look at the cola line twice. In a standard whiskey and coke, the coke contributes more calories than the whiskey. Switch to a diet mixer and the drink returns to spirit-only territory, which makes it one of the cheapest calorie swaps in the pub: same glass, same ritual, 62 kcal saved per round.
A 25 ml single at 40% is also exactly one alcohol unit, which makes whiskey the easiest drink in the pub to count against the NHS guideline of no more than 14 units a week; the sums are on the NHS unit calculator page. Doubles count double, in units and in calories alike.
Scotch, bourbon, Irish: does the bottle matter?
Not to the calorie count. Scotch, bourbon, Irish, Japanese, rye: at 40% ABV they all land on the same 53 kcal per single, because the energy comes from the alcohol and 40% is 40% whoever distilled it. The £120 single malt and the supermarket blend are identical on this one measurement.
Spelling is the only real difference you will spot on the shelf: Scotland bottles whisky, Ireland and America mostly bottle whiskey, and your waistline cannot tell them apart. What does move the number is strength. Cask-strength bottlings run well above 40%, and more alcohol per ml means proportionally more calories per pour. Check the ABV, not the country.
The other exception wears a similar label: whisky liqueurs and cream liqueurs are different drinks entirely, with sugar and cream doing the heavy lifting. The trace-sugar arithmetic on this page applies to straight spirit only.
How does whiskey compare?
| Drink | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Whiskey | single, 25 ml | 53 kcal |
| Vodka | single, 25 ml | 53 kcal |
| Gin and tonic | single serve | 100 kcal |
| Wine | 175 ml glass | 133 kcal |
| Beer | pint of bitter | 170 kcal |
Per drink in hand, a neat or diet-mixed whiskey is the lightest order on the board, level with vodka and roughly a third of a pint of bitter. The honest caveat: singles go down faster than pints. Three quick whiskies equal a pint calorically and beat it on alcohol, so the comparison only flatters you if the pace stays civilised.
The dark colour myth
The amber colour reads as caramel, so people assume dark spirits carry sugar that clear ones don't. They don't. The colour comes from years in oak casks, and the sugar content stays at a trace, the same as vodka's. Barrels give whiskey flavour and colour, not calories.
If you have met a genuinely sweet whiskey drink, it was the liqueur, the honey blend or the cola doing it. The spirit itself has nothing to confess beyond the alcohol.
Most popular whisky brands in the United Kingdom
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United Kingdom, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each label. The spread is ABV and label rounding — a 25 ml single stays within a few calories whichever bottle you pour.
| Product | Calories (per 100 ml) |
|---|---|
| Jameson Irish Whiskey | 224 kcal |
| Johnnie Walker Red Label | 243 kcal |
| Talisker Single Malt | 254 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Whiskey FAQs
How many calories in a whiskey and coke?
About 116 kcal for a single with 150 ml of cola: 53 from the spirit, 63 from the mixer. That means the coke out-calories the whiskey in the standard serve. Made with a diet mixer, the same drink comes back down to roughly 54 kcal.
How many calories in a single measure of whiskey?
About 53 kcal for the standard UK 25 ml single at 40% strength, from a spirit measuring 222 kcal per 100 g. Some bars pour 35 ml singles, which lifts the same drink to roughly 74 kcal, so it is worth knowing the house measure.
How many calories in a double whiskey?
About 105 kcal for a 50 ml double, neat or with a diet mixer. With 150 ml of cola on top it reaches roughly 168 kcal, which is pint-of-bitter territory in a much smaller glass. Doubles also count as two alcohol units, not one.
Is whiskey fattening?
At 53 kcal a single, one measure is among the lighter drinks going; at 222 kcal per 100 g, the bottle is dense energy if the pours stack up. The pattern that catches people is doubles plus sugary mixers, which quietly triple the count per glass. Neat, slow and single is the lean way to take it.
Whiskey or beer – which is better for weight loss?
Per drink, whiskey: 53 kcal a single against 170 kcal for a pint of bitter. Per unit of alcohol the gap narrows, since a pint carries more alcohol than a single. If you drink to a fixed number of drinks, spirits with diet mixers win; the NHS 14-units-a-week guideline is the sensible frame either way.
Does whiskey contain sugar?
Only a trace, and effectively no carbohydrate at all. Distillation leaves alcohol and water; the amber colour comes from oak casks, not caramelised sugar. Whisky liqueurs and honey blends are the exception, with added sugar that puts them in a different category altogether.
Do Scotch, bourbon and Irish whiskey have different calories?
No. At the same 40% strength they are all about 53 kcal per 25 ml single, because the calories come from the alcohol itself. Only ABV changes the count: cask-strength bottles carry proportionally more per pour, and liqueurs play by different rules entirely.
How many units are in a whiskey?
One unit per 25 ml single at 40% ABV, which is what makes whiskey the easiest drink to tally: singles are one, doubles are two. The NHS advises staying under 14 units a week spread over several days, and its alcohol advice pages cover the details.
Similar foods
- Tequila — 53 kcal a shot
- Vodka — 53 kcal a single shot
- Margarita — ~183 kcal a glass
- Rosé wine — 138 kcal a 175 ml glass
- Wine — 133 kcal a 175 ml glass
- Pinot Grigio — 131 kcal a 175 ml glass
No maths at the bar
Tell BodyPal what you ordered, or snap the glass, and the calories land in your log before the ice melts.
