What alcohol can you drink on the ketogenic diet? - The ultimate guide

Published February 4, 2021·Mattia D.

When starting the ketogenic diet, we often read on the internet that alcohol is not keto-friendly. Indeed, many drinks / spirits have a very high carbohydrate content. At the same time, however, there are different types of alcohol which, although always consumed in moderation, are low-carb and can be used without having to fear an increase in blood sugar.

The best low-carb spirits recommended on the ketogenic diet are:

Dry wines
Whiskey
Rum
Tequila
Vodka
Grappa

Wines

Although wine is made from grapes, which have a very high sugar content, the fermentation process causes most of the carbohydrates to be absorbed.

Dry white wines have a low carbohydrate content, ranging from 1 to 3 grams per serving. This makes dry white wines alcoholic beverages that can be consumed in the ketogenic diet.

The most recommended wines are:

Pinot bianco
Pinot Grigio
Champagne
Chardonnay
Prosecco

If consumed in moderation, one / two glasses of dry white wine is unlikely to have an undesirable effect on blood sugar and ketosis. However, it must be considered that it could still reduce the positive effects regarding weight loss.

Red wine in general has a slightly higher carbohydrate content than white wine, with a carbohydrate content per serving that can range from 3 to 5 grams. In this case, a maximum of one glass a day of red wine is recommended, as with two servings you could accumulate some carbohydrates too much and negatively affect your blood sugar level.

Beer

Beer is generally not suitable during the ketogenic diet, as it is produced from the fermentation of barley malt and has a particularly high carbohydrate content.

The amount of carbohydrates varies by brand and can range from a minimum of 7 grams per can (330ml), up to 14 grams per can.

However, there are exceptions. In fact, some light beers have a carbohydrate content up to a third lower than their counterpart and if consumed in moderation, i.e. a maximum of one 330ml bottle per day, they could have little impact on blood sugar.

Some light low-carb beers are:

Beck's Premiere Light (3.2g)
Budweiser Select (3.1g)
Budweiser Select 55 (1.9g)

Spirits

Spirits are the drinks with the least carbohydrates in absolute terms and some, for example, have a content equal to 0.

From this category of alcohol, however, creams must be excluded. In fact, alcoholic creams, such as Baileys, have a fairly high sugar content.

The spirits that can be drunk on the ketogenic diet are the following:

Rum
Tequila
Vodka
Grappa
Brandy
Whiskey
Gin

... and any other similar distillate.

While these spirits have virtually no carbohydrate content, that doesn't mean you can have dozens of shots without consequences. As we will see later, excess alcohol can still have repercussions in the diet.

Cocktail

There are cocktails and cocktails. To avoid are those that contain added sugars, juices, or those having as an alcoholic base drinks with a high carbohydrate content, such as beer.

Also, you should avoid cocktails that contain sugary drinks such as coca-cola. However, if the cocktail is prepared using, for example, coca-cola zero, which does not contain carbohydrates, from a purely ketogenic point of view it does not risk stopping the state of ketosis. From a health point of view, however, we must consider the effects that artificial sweeteners have on the body.

For more information on sweeteners see our complete guide on sweeteners.

Ultimately these are some cocktails that tend to be safe for those on a ketogenic diet:

Dry martini
Shot (vodka, tequila etc.)
Vodka Tonic

And if the drink is homemade, you can add different cocktails to the list simply by replacing the sugar with liquid stevia, or by replacing sugary juices with lemon or lime juice.

For example cocktails like Mojito, Old Fashioned, Margarita, Sangria can be created with low-carb variants.

The comparative table

| Drink | Net carbohydrates (per serving) | Recommended |

| ------------------ | ------------------------------- | ----------- |

| Pinot Blanc | 3g | ✅ |

| Pinot grigio | 3g | ✅ |

| Pinot Noir | 3.4g | ✅ |

| Merlot | 3.7g | ✅ |

| Champagne | 2.8g | ✅ |

| Chardonnay | 3g | ✅ |

| Prosecco | 2g | ✅ |

| Moscato | 5g | ⚠️ |

| Traditional beer | 7g - 14g | 🚫 |

| Guinness | 10g | 🚫 |

| Light beer | 2g - 6g | ⚠️ |

| Rum | 0g | ✅ |

| Tequila | 0g | ✅ |

| Vodka | 0g | ✅ |

| Grappa | 0g | ✅ |

| Brandy | 0g | ✅ |

| Whiskey | 0g | ✅ |

| Gin | 0g | ✅ |

| Baileys | 7g | 🚫 |

Considerations for Alcohol Consumption on the Ketogenic Diet

Although, as stated earlier, there are several low-carb alcoholic beverages, that doesn't necessarily mean you can destroy yourself every weekend from tomorrow!

The consumption of alcohol, in fact, brings with it some contraindications that go beyond the quantity of carbohydrates.

How Alcohol Metabolization Can Stop Ketone Production

As a premise here it is useful to mention that the production of ketones is a task of the liver. In fact, in the absence of sugar / glucose, the liver begins to convert fats (both endogenous and exogenous) into ketones.

Chances are you've already heard that alcohol in general isn't great for the liver. In fact, alcohol is converted into acetaldehyde by our body, a highly toxic chemical compound. In the presence of this toxic substance the liver will always try to give priority to the metabolization of this substance, thus preventing the production of ketones.

However, moderate alcohol consumption is efficiently managed by the liver without creating too many problems - as long as you don't have liver disease. Although alcohol blocks the production of ketones as explained above, this negative effect is only temporary, and can be mitigated with moderate consumption.

Alcohol tolerance decreases with the ketogenic diet

The ketogenic diet involves a low consumption of carbohydrates, carbohydrates that are assimilated in the liver in the form of glycogen. The greater the consumption of carbohydrates, the greater the presence of glycogen in the liver.

But what is glycogen?

Glycogen is a polymer of glucose, which is an alternative energy reserve of glucose.

The fact that with the ketogenic diet this glycogen reserve is reduced is not necessarily a bad thing, on the contrary ... but in the case of alcohol consumption the glycogen helps the absorption of the same, so if the reserve of this polymer is low alcohol tolerance decreases significantly.

Conclusions

There are several alcoholic drinks with a high carbohydrate content, as there are several with low or even no carbohydrates (such as some spirits).

Although low-carb alcohol exists, moderate consumption is always preferable for two main reasons:

The metabolism of alcohol by the liver stops ketone production temporarily
With the ketogenic diet one becomes less tolerant to alcohol

So, in conclusion, once in a while and in moderation it is possible to drink alcohol during the ketogenic diet, and therefore it is possible to enjoy evenings in the company of friends without having to give up a few drinks and without feeling guilty.