How WhatDrink Calculates Cocktail Nutrition and Strength

What we calculate

For each cocktail recipe in the WhatDrink database, we compute five figures when the data quality meets our thresholds:

• Calories (kcal) — estimated energy from alcohol and sugar
• Sugar (g) — estimated sugar contributed by liqueurs, syrups, juice, and mixers
• Carbohydrates (g) — estimated total carbs including sugar
• ABV (%) — estimated alcohol by volume of the finished cocktail
• Standard drinks — US standard drinks (14g pure alcohol each); AU standard drinks also shown where applicable

Data sources

Ingredient nutrition data is drawn from publicly available nutrition reference databases and published product information. Spirit ABV values use standard industry ABV ranges for each spirit category. Where multiple brand or recipe variations exist, we use a representative mid-range value.

Ingredient quantities are taken from the recipe as recorded in the WhatDrink database. We only display nutrition figures when all ingredient quantities can be parsed to a known unit (ml, oz, cl, dash, etc.) and mapped to a known ingredient with reference nutrition data.

Recipes are drawn from a database of over 1,400 cocktails with verified recipe quantity data. We do not estimate nutrition for recipes where quantities are ambiguous or ingredient mapping is incomplete.

How ABV is estimated

We calculate the volume of pure alcohol contributed by each ingredient (quantity × ABV), sum across all ingredients, then divide by total volume to arrive at the recipe ABV. Dilution from ice is not modelled. Carbonated mixers are included by volume but dissolved CO₂ is not.

In practice, stirred and shaken cocktails are typically diluted by 20–30% by ice at service, meaning actual ABV served is lower than our estimate. Our figure represents the pre-dilution recipe ABV.

How standard drinks are estimated

One US standard drink contains 14 grams of pure alcohol (approximately 0.6 fl oz / 17.7 ml). We calculate grams of pure alcohol from the serving volume and estimated ABV (using ethanol density 0.789 g/ml), then divide by 14.

Standard drink definitions differ by country: the Australian standard is 10g pure alcohol; the UK unit is 8g. Where AU standard drinks are shown, we use 10g as the divisor. Standard drink counts depend on serve size, which varies by bar and recipe.

How calories are estimated

Alcohol contributes approximately 7 kcal per gram. Sugar contributes approximately 4 kcal per gram. We sum these contributions across all recipe ingredients. This does not include calories from protein or fat (present in cream and dairy-containing cocktails) except where those ingredients have explicit calorie values in our reference database.

Sugar is estimated from ingredient reference values — for example, standard simple syrup at 50% sugar by weight, liqueurs at their reference sugar content per 100ml, and fruit juices at typical sugar content for the juice type.

Quality thresholds

Nutrition figures are only shown when all of the following criteria are met:

• All recipe quantities are parseable to a known unit (ml, oz, cl, etc.)
• All ingredients map to a reference entry with ABV or nutrition data
• No ingredient quantity is implausibly large or small (outlier gate)
• 100% of ingredient quantities in the recipe have been successfully parsed
• The recipe passes our internal nutrition quality classification

Recipes that do not meet these thresholds are included in the WhatDrink database but excluded from nutrition-ranked guides, comparison tables, and the nutrition box displayed at the top of recipe pages.

An outlier gate flags recipes where a single ingredient contributes a calorie estimate that is implausibly high relative to the total — for example, a punch recipe scaled to a full batch rather than a single serve. These are reviewed manually before publication.

How we rank cocktails in guides

WhatDrink drink guides rank cocktails automatically using the objective figures described above — no editorial picks, no sponsored placements in ranking tables. Each guide type has a specific primary metric (e.g. lowest sugar, lowest calories, lowest ABV) and uses a deterministic ranking algorithm.

Guide pages also score a quality threshold before they are shown in search results or the sitemap. A page must have sufficient data-backed content and pass our indexation allowlist before it is indexed. Pages that do not meet the quality threshold are accessible by direct URL but not indexed.

The ranking methodology for each guide is explained in the How this ranking works section at the bottom of each guide page.

Limitations

Common questions