The 18 Best and Worst Keto Beer, Wine, and Alcohol Options

Alcohol is typically high in carbohydrates, sugars, and empty calories. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that alcohol doesn’t help weight loss. Your body will burn the alcohol before anything else, including fat (and ketones).

But we want to be realistic, and help you make keto a lifestyle, rather than an unsustainable diet. So first, we'll go into how to drink on keto without sabotaging your progress. Then we'll get into the best options to do so.

Some drinks are much more keto-friendly than others, so here are our recommendations for the best keto-friendly beers, wines, and liquors.

How to Drink on Keto Without Sabotaging Your Progress

If we were to say to KETO 30 Challenge members that they could never have another drink so long as they're following a ketogenic diet, that would be unrealistic and unsustainable.

So instead, we give them the tools to succeed. And we're passing some of those tools on to you. To reduce the impact of the carb load when you enjoy happy hour, follow the strategies below.

#1: Bank Your Carbohydrates

Think of your daily carbohydrate allowance as a carb budget, and "save" most those carbs for your drinks in the evening. Don't do this regularly (the carbs you do consume should be coming from quality foods packed with micronutrients and minerals). But every once in a while, you're good to go.

#2: Stick with Hard Alcohol

Your best bet for remaining in ketosis while also letting loose every once in awhile is to stick with hard liquor. Vodka, gin, and tequila can be lower in carb (even zero-carb) and mixes well with carb-free mixers like Zevia, soda water, and keto BHB.

#3: Maintain Ketosis with Exogenous Ketones

Ketone salts, the ketone bodies in BHB are exogenous ketones and help support ketosis. They're also full of electrolytes, which are excellent hangover cures.

Keto Beer Options

We're not going to be the most popular when we say this, but when it comes to drinks, beer may be the worst option for those on a keto or low-carb diet. Beer is packed with carbs, so you can throw off your macros with a single drink.

A stout such as Guinness has 18g of carbohydrates per pint [1]. However, there are some beers which keto-lovers can enjoy from time to time.

The Best Beer Options on Keto:

• Budweiser Select 55 – 1.9g of carbs per serving [2]
• Miller Genuine Draft 64 – 2.4g of carbs per serving [3]
• Michelob Ultra – 2.6g of carbs per serving [4]

The Worst Beer Options on Keto:

• Guinness Extra Stout – 14g of carbs per serving [5]
• Stella Artois – 13g of carbs per serving [6]
• Blue Moon Belgian White Ale – 13g of carbs per serving [7].

Unless you're carb cycling or following the CKD, try to stick with Budweiser Select 55. If you ensure a very low carb intake during the day, you can "afford" a few of the lower carb options on the above.

Keto Wine Options

For those on a keto diet, wine is a much better option than beer. Dry wines, in particular, are a great choice, since they have no residual sugar and are therefore lower in carbs. They’re not as sweet as some dessert wines, but the results are worth it if you’re looking to cut out carbs.

The Best Wine Options on Keto:

• Champagne – 1.2g of carbs per serving [8]
• Sauvignon Blanc – 3g of carbs per serving [9]
• Pinot Noir – 3.4g of carbs per serving [10]

The Worst Wine Options on Keto:

• Sweet Dessert Wine – 20.3g of carbs per serving [11]
• Sangria – 18g of carbs per serving [12]
• Port – 7.2g of carbs per serving [13]

For some reason, many experienced keto-ers claim that the impact of enjoying a few glasses of wine on keto isn't as dramatic as most hard liquor or beer options, though that's mostly anecdotal.

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Keto Hard Alcohol, Liquor and Spirits

Pure spirits like brandy, whiskey, vodka, cognac, and tequila have no carbs and are fine on keto.

The problem is mixed drinks, especially sugar-sweetened drinks. A Gin & Tonic, for example, has 12.1g of carbs per serving [14].

But if you’re craving something sweet, try KetoLogic BHB and soda water instead of juice or cola. It’s a sugar-free way to get the sweetness you’re looking for.

The Best Liquor Options on Keto:

• Dry Martini – 0g of carbs per serving [15]
• Whiskey – 0g of carbs per serving [16]
• Vodka & Soda Water with KetoLogic BHB – 0g of carbs per serving [17]

The Worst Liquor Options on Keto:

• Mai Tai – 17g of carbs per serving [18]
• Cosmopolitan – 12.9g of carbs per serving [19]
• Gin & Tonic – 12.1g of carbs per serving [14]

Enjoy Happy Hour & Stick to Keto

Alcoholic drinks have lots of hidden carbs and sugar that can make it tough to stick to a keto diet. But if you know what to look for and what to avoid, you can still enjoy a drink without upsetting your macros.

Remember that your body burns alcohol before anything else, so even if your macros are correct, drinking alcohol will slow weight loss.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when you're on a low-carb diet, your tolerance for alcohol goes down. So it's important to drink a glass of water after each alcoholic beverage and be mindful of how you're feeling before reaching for a second drink.

Please drink responsibly.

***

Want more keto-friendly wines? Find even more options here.

Looking for a sugar-free mixer? Try KetoLogic BHB! (Psssst! Our BHB can also help you get back into ketosis if you over-indulge.)

REFERENCES

[1] https://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories-in-food/alcoholic-drinks/guinness.htm

[2] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-ales-beers-select-55-light-lager-2-4-alc_f-ZmlkPTE3NTc5NA.html

[3] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-ales-beers-genuine-draft-64-light-lager-beer-2-8-alc_f-ZmlkPTY3NDQ4.html

[4] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-ales-beers-ultra-superior-light-beer-4-2-alc_f-ZmlkPTc1Mjk4.html

[5] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-ales-beers-extra-stout-beer-6-alc_f-ZmlkPTg4MzYy.html

[6] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-ales-beers-belgium-lager-beer-5-alc_f-ZmlkPTE3MjE2Nw.html

[7] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-ales-beers-belgian-white-ale-5-4-alc_f-ZmlkPTY3NDIw.html

[8] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-wines-champagne_f-ZmlkPTcwMzA5.html

[9] https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/14134?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=14134&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=

[10] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-wines-pinot-noir-red-wine-10-alc_f-ZmlkPTIxMDcxOQ.html

[11] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-wines-sweet-dessert-wine-15-alc_f-ZmlkPTE0MDU3.html

[12] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-wines-sangria-average_f-ZmlkPTE1ODE4Nw.html

[13] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-wines-port-20-alc_f-ZmlkPTcyNzAz.html

[14] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-cocktails-gin-tonic-no-lime-wedge_f-ZmlkPTE1ODIyOA.html

[15] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-cocktails-martini-no-olive-or-lemon-twist_f-ZmlkPTY3NjA1.html

[16] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-liquors-spirits-whiskey-80-proof_f-ZmlkPTY3NTA2.html

[17] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-liquors-spirits-vodka-red-label-40-alc_f-ZmlkPTEwNDc0OQ.html

[18] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-cocktails-mai-tai-w-2-oz-rum_f-ZmlkPTY3NjAy.html

[19] https://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-cocktails-cosmopolitan-no-orange-peel_f-ZmlkPTE1ODE4Mw.html