Lowest Calorie Shots: Every Liquor Ranked by Calories per Shot

What You'll Discover:

• The lowest calorie shot, and why most liquors tie for first place.
• Calories per 1.5-ounce shot for vodka, tequila, gin, rum, bourbon, scotch and cream liqueur.
• Why proof drives the number, with the simple math behind it.
• Why flavored and liqueur shots cost more.
• Why the mixer, the count and the late-night food matter more than the bottle.

If you're hunting for the lowest calorie shot, here's the good news. Most straight liquors are tied. A 1.5-ounce shot of 80-proof vodka, tequila, gin, rum or whiskey has about 97 calories, according to USDA FoodData Central.

What changes the number is proof, not the name on the bottle. Stronger spirits carry more calories per shot, and sweet liqueurs pile sugar on top. Below, we rank every common liquor by the shot and point you to our deeper guide for each spirit.

Spoiler alert: the shot itself is rarely what tips the scale. So we'll also look at what actually moves the total on a night out.

The Short Answer: The Lowest Proof Straight Spirit Wins

The lowest calorie shot is a plain, unflavored spirit at 80 proof, which means 40% alcohol by volume (ABV).

Vodka, tequila, gin, rum and whiskey all qualify when they're bottled at 80 proof. USDA data puts each one at roughly 97 calories per 1.5 ounces.

Straight spirits contain essentially no carbs, fat or sugar. USDA lists 80-proof distilled spirits at 0 grams of carbohydrate. Almost every calorie in the glass comes from the alcohol itself.

That's why the "vodka vs tequila" calorie debate goes nowhere. At the same proof and the same pour, they're the same number. The winner is whichever bottle has the lowest proof on the label and nothing sweet added.

Why Proof Decides the Calorie Count

Alcohol is energy-dense. It provides about 7 calories per gram, which is close to fat at 9 and well above carbs and protein at 4 each.

Proof is simply double the alcohol by volume. An 80-proof bottle is 40% alcohol, and a 100-proof bottle is 50%. More alcohol in the same 1.5 ounces means more grams of alcohol, and more grams means more calories.

Here's the math with a standard pour. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines one U.S. standard drink as about 14 grams of pure alcohol. That's the amount in a 1.5-ounce shot of 40% spirits.

Multiply 14 grams by 7 calories and you get 98. USDA's measured value for the same shot is 97, so the back-of-napkin math holds up. As proof climbs, USDA's figures for a 1.5-ounce pour look like this:

• 80 proof (40% ABV): about 97 calories
• 86 proof (43% ABV): about 105 calories
• 90 proof (45% ABV): about 110 calories
• 94 proof (47% ABV): about 116 calories
• 100 proof (50% ABV): about 124 calories

The rule of thumb is simple. Every 10 proof points adds roughly 13 to 14 calories per shot, so a 100-proof bourbon costs about 27 more calories than an 80-proof vodka.

Over one shot, that's small. Over five shots, the gap adds up to more than an entire extra 80-proof shot.

Calories per Shot, Liquor by Liquor

Here's how the most searched liquors compare per standard 1.5-ounce shot. The calorie figures come from USDA FoodData Central entries for distilled spirits at each proof. Your bottle's proof is printed on the label, so match it to the right row.

Vodka

Vodka is the classic "light" shot, and at 80 proof it earns the label with about 97 calories and zero carbs. Some vodkas are bottled at 90 or 100 proof, though, which pushes a shot to about 110 or 124 calories.

Our full breakdown of vodka calories goes further into flavored vodkas and the drinking patterns that make the total climb.

Tequila

Unflavored tequila at 80 proof matches vodka at about 97 calories per shot. With tequila, the calorie trap is usually what comes with it, from sweet margarita mix to sugary chasers.

We dig into cocktails and the appetite side of things in our guide to tequila calories.

Gin

Gin sits in the same range, but plenty of gins are bottled above 80 proof. That puts a shot anywhere from about 97 up to around 116 calories. The juniper and botanicals add flavor, not calories.

Tonic is a different story, since regular tonic water is sweetened. Our guide to calories in gin breaks down proof, mixers and the most popular gin cocktails.

Rum

Plain white or gold rum at 80 proof is another 97-calorie shot. Spiced and flavored rums are where it gets murky, since some contain added sugar. Overproof rums can run well past 100 proof, and the calories climb right along with them.

Whiskey, Bourbon and Scotch

Whiskey covers the widest range of any spirit. An 80-proof whiskey is about 97 calories per shot. Plenty of bourbons and scotches are bottled between 86 and 100 proof, which works out to about 105 to 124 calories.

Barrel-proof and cask-strength bottles go higher still. Aging, barrels and peat change the flavor, not the calorie count in any meaningful way. Our whiskey calories guide covers different whiskies and the cocktails where the numbers really jump.

Cream Liqueur

Cream liqueur is the outlier. It has much less alcohol than a straight spirit, yet a 1.5-ounce shot comes in around 133 calories in USDA's data, with about 15 grams of carbohydrate. The difference is sugar and cream.

How a Shot Compares to Beer and Wine

Shots have a reputation as the "heavy" option, but per drink they're often the lightest. Each of these is roughly one standard drink, and the USDA numbers line up like this:

• A 1.5-ounce shot of 80-proof liquor: about 97 calories
• A 12-ounce light beer: about 103 calories
• A 5-ounce glass of red wine: about 125 calories
• A 12-ounce regular beer: about 153 calories

So a straight shot isn't the calorie villain it's made out to be. The catch is speed. Shots go down in seconds, which makes it easy to have three in the time it takes to finish one beer.

Why Flavored and Liqueur Shots Jump

A liqueur is a spirit that has been sweetened and flavored. Sugar adds about 4 calories per gram, and cream adds fat at 9. So even though liqueurs usually contain less alcohol, the extra ingredients more than make up for it.

Coffee liqueur shows the pattern clearly. USDA lists a 53-proof coffee liqueur at roughly 175 calories per 1.5 ounces, with about 24 grams of carbs. That's nearly double a shot of vodka, from a drink that's weaker.

Flavored vodkas and whiskeys are a mixed bag. Some get their flavor from extracts and stay close to the plain version. Others are sweetened and land much closer to liqueur territory.

A good rule: if the bottle says "liqueur," or the proof is unusually low for a spirit, assume sugar is involved. Layered shots, cream shooters and anything that tastes like dessert are carrying dessert-level calories.

Why Alcohol Calories Hit a Little Differently

Calories from alcohol don't behave quite like calories from food. Your body can't store alcohol, so it treats clearing it as a priority. While your liver is busy with that, burning fat and carbs from your last meal gets pushed down the list.

Alcohol calories also don't fill you up. A sandwich with 400 calories takes the edge off hunger. Four shots with nearly the same calories do the opposite, and that sets up the next problem.

The Shot Is Rarely the Problem

Here's the honest part. Picking the lowest calorie shot saves you a few dozen calories at most. The things surrounding the shot can easily add hundreds.

The Mixer and the Chaser

A shot of vodka with soda water stays close to 97 calories. The same shot with regular soda, juice or sweet sour mix can easily add as many calories as the spirit itself, or more.

NIAAA's free Alcohol Calorie Calculator lets you enter a typical week of drinks, cocktails included, and see your weekly total. It's an eye-opening two minutes.

The Number of Shots

Four 80-proof shots add up to nearly 400 calories. Five shots of 100-proof bourbon land above 600. At that point, the difference between vodka and whiskey is a rounding error next to the count.

The count matters for more than calories. NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern that brings blood alcohol to 0.08%, which typically means four drinks for women or five for men in about two hours. Shots make it very easy to get there fast.

The Late-Night Food

Alcohol doesn't just bring its own calories. It tends to bring food calories along with it. A 2019 meta-analysis of 12 studies found that drinking alcohol increased how much people ate compared with a non-alcoholic drink.

People also didn't fully make up for it by eating less afterward. That's the 1 a.m. pizza effect.

Lowered inhibition and a tired brain make the fries, the burrito or the second dinner feel like a great idea, and those calories often dwarf anything in the shot glass.

It Adds Up Over a Week

A CDC analysis of national survey data from 2007 to 2010 found that U.S. adults got almost 100 calories a day from alcoholic beverages on average. Men averaged about 150 a day and women a little over 50.

Among people who drank, alcohol made up roughly 16% of their total calories. That's a lot of energy from drinks that don't fill you up.

How to Keep Shots Lighter

If you're going to have a shot or two, a few simple choices make the biggest difference:

• Pick an 80-proof, unflavored spirit. Vodka, tequila, gin, rum or whiskey at 40% ABV all sit at about 97 calories.
• Skip cream and liqueur shots. They run roughly 35% to 80% higher than a straight shot.
• Use a zero-calorie chaser. Soda water, water with lime or a diet soda keeps the total close to the shot itself.
• Decide your number before you go. It's far easier to stop at two when you picked two in daylight.
• Eat a real meal first. Food slows alcohol absorption and takes the edge off the late-night snack run.
• Alternate with water. It slows the pace without anyone noticing.

Pour size matters too. A heavy home pour or a generous bartender can turn one "shot" into closer to two standard drinks, with double the calories.

If you want to compare beyond shots, our guide to the lowest calorie alcoholic drinks ranks beer, wine, seltzers and cocktails side by side.

When Counting Calories Is Really About Counting Drinks

For a lot of people, searching for the lowest calorie shot is a quiet way of asking a bigger question. You want to enjoy a night out without undoing your week, and stopping at two keeps getting harder.

If that sounds familiar, you're far from alone, and it doesn't take a crisis to want a little help. Naltrexone is an FDA-approved medication, taken as a 50 mg tablet, that dulls the rewarding buzz that makes "one more" so tempting.

Many people use it to drink less, not only to quit. Choose Your Horizon offers physician-guided naltrexone online in all 50 states, as part of an integrated solution with coaching and daily tracking. Moderation is a perfectly valid goal.

The Bottom Line on the Lowest Calorie Shot

The lowest calorie shot is any unflavored 80-proof spirit, at about 97 calories. Vodka, tequila, gin, rum and whiskey all tie at that proof. Every 10 proof points adds roughly 13 to 14 calories, and cream or coffee liqueurs climb past 130.

All that said, the shot is rarely what tips the scale. The mixer, the number of shots and the food that follows usually matter far more. The simplest way to cut alcohol calories is fewer drinks, and plenty of people get there with the right support.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you'd like to drink less without giving up your social life, take the online Alcohol Use Assessment to see whether naltrexone and Choose Your Horizon's integrated solution are a good fit for you.