Calories in a Beer, a Peg of Whisky and Wine

By NYUS Inc. · Published 27 October 2026

A bottle of beer with friends, a peg of whisky, a glass of wine at a wedding: drinks are poured by the peg, the bottle or the glass, but calorie lists give them per 100 g. This guide gives the calories per 100 g for five alcoholic drink records from USDA FoodData Central, then turns them into one serving using the can, glass and jigger weights USDA prints on each record, and into an Indian peg or bottle using weights that are ours and labelled. It is food data for adults who already drink, and it gives no advice on whether or how much to drink.

The short answer

By the USDA records below, a 12 fl oz can of regular beer (356 g) is about 153 kcal and a 12 fl oz light beer (354 g) about 103 kcal. A 5 fl oz serving (147 g) of red table wine is about 125 kcal and of white about 121 kcal. USDA's jigger of spirits (1.5 fl oz, 42 g) is about 97 kcal. By our arithmetic from the same records, a 30 ml peg is about 65 kcal, a 60 ml peg about 129 kcal, a 330 ml bottle of regular beer about 142 kcal and a 650 ml bottle about 281 kcal. Our reading: per 100 g spirits are 231 kcal against 82 to 85 for wine and 43 for beer, but a peg is a small weight and a large bottle of beer is a big one, so the serving size matters as much as the row.

Calories per 100 g and per serving

Indian lab values (IFCT 2017) cover only one drink of this kind: Table 1 has toddy (K001, 10 regions, PDF page 56) at 101 kJ per 100 g, which is 24 kcal at 4.184 kJ per kcal, and no row for beer, wine, whisky, vodka, rum or gin that we found. The five rows in the table are USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy reference values, and the kcal per 100 g is the Energy figure printed on each record; the records also print ethyl alcohol per 100 g (spirits 33.4 g, red wine 10.6 g, white wine 10.3 g, regular beer 3.9 g, light beer 3.1 g). The servings come from two places. The can, the 5 fl oz wine serving and the jigger are the household portions USDA prints on each record. A peg or a 330 ml or 650 ml bottle is not on the records, so those rows are ours: we divide the millilitres by 29.5735, the millilitres in a US fluid ounce, and multiply by the grams per fluid ounce USDA prints on the same record (27.8 g for spirits, 29.7 g for regular beer), then round the grams. A 30 ml peg is 1.01 fl oz, about 28 g; a 60 ml peg is 2.03 fl oz, about 56 g; a 330 ml bottle is 11.16 fl oz, about 331 g; a 650 ml bottle is 21.98 fl oz, about 653 g. Bars and bottles vary, so check the ml. Each figure is the grams times the kcal per 100 g in the table, divided by 100, rounded to the nearest kcal. The spirits row is for 80 proof, as the record name says; a stronger or weaker spirit is a different row, so check your label. Mixers, soda, juice, ice, snacks and cocktails are not in these rows.

What stands out in the numbers

• Per 100 g the rows run from 29 to 231 kcal: spirits 231, red wine 85, white wine 82, regular beer 43 and light beer 29.
• Per serving the order changes. A 30 ml peg is about 65 kcal and a 650 ml bottle of regular beer about 281, because the bottle weighs about 653 g and the peg about 28 g; two large pegs (120 ml) come to about 259 kcal.
• The same drink, three sizes. USDA's can of regular beer is about 153 kcal, our 330 ml bottle about 142 and our 650 ml bottle about 281; the per 100 g figure has not changed.
• Cross-check with our macro guide. Our macro tracking guide gives alcohol as 7 kcal per gram; the spirits record prints 33.4 g of ethyl alcohol per 100 g, and 33.4 times 7 is about 234 kcal against the 231 the record prints, so the two sources agree within about 1.5%.
• Toddy is on a different basis. IFCT K001 is 24 kcal per 100 g; it prints no glass weight, so we give no glass figure for it.

How to log it so the numbers hold

• Log the ml, not the word. A peg can be a different size from one bar to the next (we use 30 ml and 60 ml) and bottles come in different sizes; read the bottle or ask the bar, then scale from the per 100 g column.
• Mixers and food are extra. Cola, soda, juice, sugar syrup, ice and snacks eaten with a drink are not in these rows; our cola, soda and juice guide has USDA rows for some mixers.
• Strength matters. The spirits row is 80 proof and the beer rows are regular and light as USDA names them; a strong beer, a liqueur or a cocktail is a different row, so read the label.
• Log it when you drink it. A diary is only as good as its entries: see our guide to tracking Indian food for how to log by weight and volume.

Where NYUS fits (our app)

We make NYUS, so read this as ours. NYUS is an AI fitness and nutrition coach in early access on Android, with no ads and no data selling. You log foods and drinks yourself by searching 8,900+ Indian and global foods or by barcode, and a weekly check-in adjusts your calories, macros and step goal once enough is logged. Barcode coverage of Indian packaged foods is not complete, so search by name when a scan finds nothing.

What this page leaves out

• A calorie target or any advice on whether or how much to drink: we have not looked up either for any person, so we give none.
• Cocktails, mixers, liqueurs, cider, strong beer, fortified wine, desi liquor and any particular brand: not covered here.
• Protein, fat, sugar and other nutrients: this page gives energy only (and the ethyl alcohol figure the records print).
• Brand pack labels and FSSAI figures: not used, so the page does not mix label numbers with the records above.
• Anything about weight, health or what these drinks do to your body: the page adds up food data and makes no claim about it. If you have a medical condition or take medicine, ask your doctor or dietitian.

Sources

• ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT 2017). Table 1, energy per 100 g edible portion, read from the PDF on 27 Oct 2026: K001 (toddy, Borassus flabellifer, 10 regions, 101 kJ), PDF page 56; used for the per 100 g figure only, not in the table.
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 174815 (Alcoholic beverage, distilled, all (gin, rum, vodka, whiskey) 80 proof): Energy 231 kcal and ethyl alcohol 33.4 g per 100 g; household portions printed on the record: 1 jigger (1.5 fl oz) 42 g, 1 fl oz 27.8 g (read 27 Oct 2026).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 173190 (Alcoholic beverage, wine, table, red): Energy 85 kcal and ethyl alcohol 10.6 g per 100 g; household portions: 1 serving (5 fl oz) 147 g, 1 fl oz 29.4 g (read 27 Oct 2026).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 174837 (Alcoholic beverage, wine, table, white): Energy 82 kcal and ethyl alcohol 10.3 g per 100 g; household portions: 1 serving (5 fl oz) 147 g, 1 fl oz 29.4 g (read 27 Oct 2026).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 168746 (Alcoholic beverage, beer, regular, all): Energy 43 kcal and ethyl alcohol 3.9 g per 100 g; household portions: 1 can 356 g, 1 fl oz 29.7 g (read 27 Oct 2026).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 168749 (Alcoholic beverage, beer, light): Energy 29 kcal and ethyl alcohol 3.1 g per 100 g; household portions: 1 can or bottle (12 fl oz) 354 g, 1 fl oz 29.5 g (read 27 Oct 2026).
• nyus.in, the NYUS landing page, read on 27 Oct 2026 for the app statements in the NYUS section and the CTA.

The peg and bottle weights (ml divided by 29.5735 times USDA's grams per fl oz), the sums, the rounding, the kilojoule to kcal conversion, the 7 kcal per gram cross-check and every sentence starting "Our reading" are NYUS's own arithmetic or opinion, not from USDA or IFCT. The can, 5 fl oz serving, jigger and 12 fl oz weights are USDA's, printed on the record pages above. Names in the Drink column (beer, wine, whisky, vodka, rum, gin) are our matching to the USDA record names listed above.

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