You might be terribly conscientious when it comes to your sugar consumption from solid foods but do you know how much sugar is in the alcohol you're drinking?
See, there is currently no requirement for alcohol companies to show nutritional information on the sides of their bottles – which has led to some pretty spectacular misconceptions about the amount of sugar and calories in alcohol.
Take for instance the fact that a pint-sized bottle of cider can contain 20.5g of sugar, which is over two-thirds of your daily recommended sugar intake. For context, that's a totally crazy five cubes of sugar, in just one drink.
Perhaps because alcohol companies aren't required to display sugar content on their bottles, low-sugar alcohol is tougher to get hold of than low-sugar food. Luckily, there are a few pioneers out there who can sort you out with some healthy(ish) drinks.
Skinny Prosecco
This stuff took off in a big way when it launched last year because, did you know, prosecco – the chosen nectar of millennial women – contains on average 12-15 grams of sugar per litre. Now, you're probably not drinking prosecco by the litre (although if you are – more power to you) and, while that's not an outrageous amount of sugar when it comes to booze, it's good to know there's an alternative. Skinny Prosecco has just 7 grams per litre. The makers have also brought out a champagne with just 0.01 grams of sugar per litre. Maybe we're all just as basic as we thought. Sign us up.
Thomson & Scott Skinny Prosecco, £18, available at Thomson & Scott
The London Essence Co.
Not a low-sugar booze but a low-sugar mixer – which is where all the sugar in your spirit-based drinks comes from anyway. Did you know a gin-in-a-tin (the most hallowed of on-the-go alcoholic drinks) contains about 16 grams of sugar, which is half what you're meant to have in a day? Gross, right? A bottle of tonic from The London Essence Co. (there's a bunch of flavours to choose from – grapefruit and rosemary FTW) has just 7.8 grams of sugar in, though.
The London Essence Co. Mixers, £1.50, available at Harvey Nichols
Natural wine
Again, wine isn't a huge offender when it comes to big-sugar-content alcohol (you're going to want to look to cider for that). Red wine tends to be lower in sugar but white wine can be more problematic, depending on how sweet it is. Natural wines are taking off in a big way this year, as people get more stuck into the wellness trend – expect to see them in your local wanky wine bar soon, if they're not there already.
Anyway, natural wines are made with organic grapes and, most importantly, have should have no added sugar, meaning that if you go for a dry natural wine, you could be looking at a lower sugar content indeed.
Check out the wines on offer at the Natural Wines Shop to drink at home, or head over to the natural wine bar at The Hive Wellbeing in London's Bethnal Green.
Naturally sweetened cocktails
If you're in London, head over to Behind This Wall cocktail bar – the downstairs neighbour of Instagram fave Palm Vaults (that café with the pink walls and, yes, you guessed it, palms). Behind This Wall have issued a moratorium on sugar in their cocktails, using only natural sweeteners such as stevia and agave syrup. So not only are their cocktails better for you but Alex, the owner, also reckons they give you less of a hangover. Result.
Try the whisky soa-bucha cocktail where the only sweetness comes from kombucha and lemon syrup made by macerating lemons in stevia. Check out the menu here.
Lieutenant Blender
The name doesn't inspire much hope but if it's big-batch cocktails you want for a party, then these sugar-free cocktail mixes in a bag could be a lifesaver. They use stevia for sweetness which, as you obvs know, is the natural sweetener extracted from the candyleaf plant. Choose from margarita, daiquiri and mojito.
Lieutenant Blender Sugar-Free cocktail mixes, £6.43, available from Ltblender.com
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