How many calories are in scotch whiskey?

A standard 1.5 fl oz shot of scotch whiskey weighs 42 g and carries 97 calories. Per 100 g the spirit runs 231 calories, and every one of those calories comes from alcohol: zero carbs, zero fat, zero protein, zero sugar. The only thing that moves the number is proof.

You'd need to walk about 19 minutes to burn the 97 calories in a 1.5 fl oz shot (42 g).

On this page

• Scotch whiskey quick facts
• US pours from one ounce to a large double
• Proof is the whole story from 80 to 100
• Zero carbs zero fat and where the calories come from
• How does scotch compare to other spirits
• FAQ

Scotch whiskey quick facts

USDA has no record called "scotch." What it has is a record for distilled spirits at 80 proof, and that is the bottle sitting on the American shelf: Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, Dewar's, Glenfiddich and Macallan are all bottled at 40% alcohol by volume, which is 80 proof. So the numbers below come from SR Legacy 174815, "Alcoholic beverage, distilled, all (gin, rum, vodka, whiskey) 80 proof".

There is a whiskey-specific record, but it is bottled at 86 proof, which is stronger than what most Americans pour. Using it would quietly overcharge a Johnnie Walker Black by eight calories a glass. The difference between the two records is bottling strength, not a difference in the underlying spirit.

% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

There is no added sugars row here because the SR Legacy edition of this record does not publish added sugars, and it would read 0 g anyway: total sugars are 0 g. Cholesterol is 0 mg. Potassium is 2 mg per 100 g, which works out to 1 mg in a shot, under 1% of the 4,700 mg Daily Value. A neat pour is, on the label, almost nothing but calories.

US pours from one ounce to a large double

The 1.5 fl oz jigger is the anchor, and not only because it is the USDA household measure. The CDC counts 1.5 fl oz of 80-proof spirits as one standard drink, so a shot of scotch, a 5 fl oz glass of wine and a 12 fl oz regular beer are all one drink in the language public health uses. When you log a scotch, you are logging both a calorie number and a drink count.

The 2 fl oz and 3 fl oz rows are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, and so is the 1 oz weight row. Watch that last one: an ounce of scotch by weight is 28.4 g, while a fluid ounce is 27.8 g, because the spirit is slightly lighter than water. The gap is one calorie, which matters not at all in a glass and quite a lot in how confidently people quote numbers.

Where it does matter is the word "double." A bar that free-pours 3 fl oz is handing you two standard drinks and 194 calories in one glass, and most people count that glass as one. Two of those over an evening is 388 calories before anything gets mixed in.

Proof is the whole story from 80 to 100

Single malt, blended, peated, sherry-cask, twelve years old or thirty: none of it changes the calorie count. Alcohol is the only energy source in the glass, so the label percentage is the whole calculation. USDA publishes distilled spirits at five strengths, and the spread is wider than most drinkers expect.

Read the right-hand column as one measurement: the same 42 g of liquid, poured from six different bottles. It swings from 97 to 124 calories, a 28% increase, without a single extra drop in the glass. That is the number to keep in mind if you have moved from a supermarket blend to a cask-strength bottling and wondered why the week's total drifted.

The two 86-proof rows tie exactly, which is the useful part. USDA's whiskey-specific record and its all-spirits record land on the same 250 calories per 100 g. That is the evidence that whiskey is not its own calorie category. Strength is the variable; the grain, the cask and the region are not.

Zero carbs zero fat and where the calories come from

Look back at the Quick Facts column and you will see something unusual: every % Daily Value reads 0%, calories aside. Fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, fiber, protein and sodium are all zero on the FDA's 2,000-calorie Daily Value scale. Very few things you can eat or drink produce a panel like that.

It is also why the calories are easy to lose track of. There is no protein signal and no fiber signal, so nothing in a scotch registers as food. Ninety-seven calories arrive without any of the cues that normally tell you that you have consumed something, and they arrive again with the next pour.

The mixer is usually the bigger swing anyway. Scotch and soda adds nothing measurable, because club soda is zero calories. Scotch and ginger ale, or a sour with simple syrup, can add more calories than the whiskey underneath it. The tall glass, not the rocks glass, is where a 97-calorie drink turns into a 200-calorie one.

For a norm rather than a rule, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans put moderate drinking at two drinks or less in a day for men and one or less for women, for adults of legal drinking age who choose to drink. Two shots is 194 calories; one is 97. If you are budgeting a day, those are small numbers next to a meal and large ones next to a snack.

How does scotch compare to other spirits

Our take: at 80 proof, scotch, rum and vodka are the same drink to a calorie counter, all three at 231 per 100 g and 97 a shot, so switching to vodka because it "feels lighter" saves you nothing. The only real lever among these four rows is the last one, and it costs 27 extra calories a glass. If you are watching a daily total, pick the pour size and the mixer rather than the spirit, and check the proof on the bottle before you assume a shot is 97.

Scotch whiskey FAQs

Similar foods

• Shot Of Tequila — 97 cal per shot (1.5 fl oz)
• Martini — 241 cal per drink
• Cosmopolitan — 224 cal per cocktail
• Prosecco — 135 cal per glass
• Cider — 202 cal per can or bottle (12 fl oz)
• Beer — 155 cal for 12 fl oz can

Count it without the math

Point the camera at the glass and BodyPal counts the pour for you, proof and all.