Beer Calories Formula
The Beer calories calculator uses the same formula as the ABV calculator to calculate a beers calories.
- Calories From Alcohol
1881.22 * Final_Gravity * (Original_Gravity – Final_Gravity)/(1.775 – Original_Gravity) - Calories From Carbohydrates
3550 * Final_Gravity * ((0.1808 * Original_Gravity) + (0.8192 * Final_Gravity) – 1.0004) - Total Calories
Calories From Alcohol + Calories From Carbohydrates
Approximating Beer Calories w/ ABV
If you don’t know the beers original & final gravity, we can approximate the beers calories simply by multiplying the beers ABV % by a factor of ~2.5 and then multiplying that number by how many ounces the bottle holds.
Approx. Calories = (ABV% * 2.5 ) * oz
While the above calculation won’t ever be as exact as our OG/FG formula, it’s simplicity makes it much easier to remember and apply when you’re out enjoying a few cold ones.
Let’s go through an example beer really quick just to demonstrate what kind of difference you can expect in the results between these 2 equations.
Example Beer:
-Original Gravity = 1.070
-Final Gravity = 1.018
-ABV % = 7.22
Entering the above values into our 2 formula’s above, we get a value of 228 & 216 calories respectively. In this particular example, the margin for error is about 5%.
While calculating a beers calories from the ABV% alone won’t always be quite as accurate as our example beer, the formula does tend to be much more practical out in the real world.
Below is a quick reference chart that gives you a beers estimated calories based on it’s ABV%.
Here’s the full Beer Alcohol Content List with over +250 beers to find the correct ABV you need for the above calculations.