Calories and sugar in sake and shochu

Sake has about 100–110 kcal and 3.5–5 g of sugar per 100 ml. Honkaku shochu and awamori are distilled and contain no sugar, but a 25 % shochu still has about 140 kcal per 100 ml. Most of the calories in any drink come from the alcohol itself.

Per glass

The figures are estimates based on Japan's Standard Tables of Food Composition. Sake varies a little by type: junmai and ginjo have slightly less sugar than futsushu.

Where the calories come from

Alcohol has about 7 kcal per gram, so roughly four-fifths of the calories in a gō of sake are alcohol. For the same amount of alcohol, the type of drink makes little difference.

Working out pure alcohol

The weight of alcohol in a drink is:

pure alcohol (g) = volume (ml) × strength (%) ÷ 100 × 0.8

One gō of sake (180 ml at 15 %) is 180 × 0.15 × 0.8 = about 22 g. The 0.8 is the density of alcohol. More and more labels now print the pure-alcohol figure.

Why does shochu have no sugar?

Distillation collects the alcohol and aroma as vapour; sugar doesn't evaporate, so it stays behind. That's why honkaku shochu and awamori contain none. Liqueurs such as umeshu, made by adding sugar to shochu, are another matter, and no sugar doesn't mean no calories.

How much is a lot?

Japan's Ministry of Health defines drinking an average of 40 g of pure alcohol a day or more for men, and 20 g or more for women, as raising the risk of lifestyle diseases. In sake that is about two gō for men and one for women. Some people feel the effects at much less.

For mixing ratios and strength, see How to mix shochu; for the kinds of sake, Types of sake.