‘If You Like Pina Coladas …’
You’ll knock back more than twice the alcohol per drink as your beer-drinking friends, not to mention about 550 calories per 10-ounce drink. That’s about the same as a double-cheeseburger at your favorite fast-food place.
Mai Tai
A couple of these ought to be quite enough. That’s because a standard recipe has two servings of alcohol and about 340 calories. Compare that to a glass of wine — one serving of alcohol and 121 calories. Of course, if you’re lounging on the beach on a tropical island, a glass of wine might not cut it.
Margarita
If this is that frozen concoction that helps you hang on, you might want to rethink things. Frozen or on the rocks, a typical 10-ounce margarita has 550 calories and almost three servings of alcohol. Recipes vary, but if you get yours in a giant plastic sombrero at the local Mexican joint, what’s in your drink may not matter as much.
White Russian
Anything made from sweet coffee liquor, vodka, and heavy cream is bound to be high in calories — in this case 330 of them — and alcohol (about two servings).
Brandy Alexander
Brandy, liqueur, and heavy cream — something this rich is almost too easy to drink. And that can be dangerous when just one may have 340 calories and two servings of alcohol. The original Alexander used gin instead of brandy — no one knows who made the switch.
Long Island Iced Tea
Whoever came up with this drink must have had a few already. There’s no tea, but there is a bit of everything else: gin, rum, vodka, tequila, and triple sec. Add simple syrup, lemon juice, and cola, and you have the legendary “hangover in a glass,” with two and a half servings of alcohol and 500-plus calories. And be careful — it can be easy to drink too many.
Eggnog
You must have known this was coming, just like Christmas. Heavy cream, milk, eggs, sugar, and bourbon — it’s delicious, and may help take the edge off a visit with the in-laws. But try to keep it to one glass or make it with low-fat milk: An 8-ounce serving of the traditional version can have 330 calories or more.
Irish Coffee
This legendary beverage comes in many forms, but let’s go with the original that was served back in the 1940s. It’s made from whiskey and sugar, along with coffee and cream “rich as an Irish Brogue,” according to Joe Sheridan, who allegedly invented it. A typical drink has more than a serving of alcohol and 220 calories.