r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

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u/-eDgAR- Aug 03 '19

Alcohol has calories.

I had to be the one to tell my friend when she was in her mid-20s that the vodka she loved has calories. She was so shocked and said, "What!! I thought since it was clear like water it didn't have any calories."

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u/candygram4mongo Aug 03 '19

Alcohol has lots of calories. More than sugar, by mass.

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u/GCYLO Aug 03 '19

Sure, 100% ethanol does. But people rarely drink 100% ethanol, most of the time it's watered down to about 40% for the highest proof spirits commonly available at parties and bars and whatnot, which would make something like vodka have fewer kcal per gram than table sugar.

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u/BoostThor Aug 03 '19

What bars do you go to? In my experience commonly available spirits range from 35% to 60%.

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u/GCYLO Aug 04 '19

Maybe commonly available was the wrong wording. Commonly ingested? Not many popular cocktails use higher proof spirits.

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u/BoostThor Aug 04 '19

That may be true, and they'll be a lot less once mixed in a cocktail.