Sugar Free Whiskey

Now Sugar Free Whiskey 

       -pradeep Gupta 

There was a craze among health freaks to go for Diet Coke instead of sugary Coke . The same craze is catching fast in the hard drinks segment and people are going all the way for no sugar or low sugar alcoholic drinks. 

Let us understand first which l whiskey can be trusted to be carb and/or sugar free, of course ,  there are some varieties now in the Indian market  that do qualify that criteria. 

The problem you run into with liquor is that there usually aren’t any nutrition labels on the bottles. Since spirits are regulated by the ATF and not the FDA, there’s no legal requirement for that label to exist… which makes it really hard for the average consumer to figure out the macros of a spirit. The good news is that for certain types of spirits, the process (and any additives) is highly regulated, so spirits that follow those processes can be trusted to contain no sugar or carbs.

The big question is how a grain based spirit be carb free? Quick recap on the process: grains are cooked to turn their carbohydrates into sugars; those sugars are then eaten by yeast, which releases alcohol; the liquid is then distilled, where only the relevant alcohol vapors pass through and are captured. All of the “bad” stuff — carbs and sugars — are either eaten by the yeast or left in the still.

So, that said — which spirits are ones which are safe for a no carb / no sugar diet?

This is probably the most tightly controlled category and, as a result, you should be pretty safe here. 

Take example of Scottish laws, the only things that can be added to scotch whisky after production is water and caramel coloring, so there’s very little chance that you’ll find sugar or anything else in there . This holds true for both Single Malt as well as Blended Whiskey. 

Irish Traditions : As much as the Irish don’t always like to associate themselves with the English, they nevertheless follow the Scottish traditions pretty closely — That includes additives, where water and caramel coloring are the only two things allowed here.

Bourbon Avatar : A truly American classic, the bourbon whiskey category is one of the most popular ones out there — and another category that doesn’t allow any additional sugar to be added to the spirit. Blending and other tricks are allowed, but sugar sure ain’t.

Straight Whiskey : As the name might imply, straight whiskey is just straight up whiskey. No additives, no flavoring, just a good barrel aged delicious spirit. There’s a number of kinds of spirits that carry the “straight” moniker — straight bourbon, straight rye, etc — and with all of them you should be sugar free here.

Blanco Tequila : we’re specifically calling out blanco tequila here — and only blanco tequila. but the long and short of it is that any tequila which is actually labeled as “blanco” is probably the only safe bet to stay sugar and carb free. For anything other type (reposado, anejo), the Mexican government allows distilleries to add pretty much anything they want as flavoring — including sugar — as long as it isn’t harmful.

So those are the “safe” categories of spirits, and as you might be noticing… that list omits some big categories. Here’s a couple to specifically avoid, either due to high likelihood of sugar content or very loose regulations around additives:

* Vodka — Believe it or not, sugar is a common additive in vodka. Up to 2 grams per liter in the US or 8 grams per liter in the EU are permitted to be added without notice on the label.

* Gin — Just like with vodka, there can be a sneaky amount of sugar in gin. Once again, up to 2 grams per liter in the US or 8 grams per liter in the EU are permitted to be added without notice on the label.

* Canadian Whiskey — By law, for export, Canadian whiskey can be flavored with a large variety of things that Includes sugar.

* Japanese Whiskey — The regulations around Japanese whiskey have only recently been formalized, meaning that the contents may be unreliable.

* Brandy — Made from fruit juice, some of these spirits might be sugar free, but you’ll typically see some added sugar or flavoring especially with Cognac, Armagnac, and other European brandies.

* Rum — There’s some specific versions of rum that are required to be sugar free, but it’s probably best to just avoid the category unless you really know what you’re doing, but especially for EU produced rum, there’s up to 20 grams per liter added in there.

* Ouro / Gold Tequila — As mentioned above, blanco tequila should be fine and reposado or anejo tequila is questionable. But ouro, or golden tequila, is probably the worst of the worst and is very likely to contain sugar.

* All Liqueurs and Digestifs — Pastis, ouzo, advocaat, sambuca, or sloe gin… you name it, any of these spirits contain a bunch of sugar. Some of them contain more sugar than you’ll find in a can of regular Coca-Cola.

McDowell claims that their No. 1 Diet Mate is the world's first diet whisky, is a variant of McDowell's No. 1 Whisky. 

So next time you choose your drink choose a peg of sugar or carb free one.