Pure ethanol is 7 kcal per gram — that's the floor, and vodka in a zero-calorie mixer sits on it. Everything else is that plus sugar. Set the evening below and see what it costs.
| BAC | Roughly how it feels |
|---|---|
| 0.02% | Slightly relaxed. French novice-driver limit. |
| 0.05% | Clear buzz, chattier, judgement starting to slip. French driving limit. |
| 0.08% | Properly drunk: coordination and reaction time noticeably off. |
| 0.10–0.15% | Slurring, clumsy, memory gaps start. |
| 0.20%+ | Blackout risk zone — memory gaps can start from ~0.16%, nausea, real danger. Varies a lot with tolerance and pace. |
BAC is blood alcohol concentration: grams of ethanol per 100 ml of blood, shown as a percentage. 0.05% is the same as 0.5 g/L or 0.5‰. The body clears a fixed ~0.015% per hour — about 8 g of ethanol an hour for an 80 kg man, closer to 5 g for a smaller body — so for most people even one 10 g drink an hour slowly stacks up. Food, sleep, and body weight all move the curve; coffee and water don't sober you up, they just pass the time.
In "same buzz" mode the curve is identical for both drinks — 10 g of ethanol is 10 g. Switch to "same servings" to see a shot per hour vs a glass or bottle per hour. Simple Widmark estimate: each round lands instantly, liver clears ~0.015% per hour (≈8 g for an 80 kg man). Real absorption is slower on a full stomach and faster on an empty one or with diet mixers (peak up to ~18% higher).
| Bottle | 1 round | Tonight | Of the bottle | Rounds per bottle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vodka 40%, 70 cl | — | — | — | — |
| Wine, 75 cl | — | — | — | — |
| Drink | Alcohol | kcal | kcal / unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vodka-soda, 4 cl | 12.6 g | 88 | 70 |
| Dry sparkling brut 12%, 150 ml | 14.2 g | ~105 | ~75 |
| Dry wine 12.5%, 150 ml | 14.8 g | ~105 | ~70 |
| Light beer 4.2%, 330 ml | 10.9 g | ~95 | ~90 |
| Pils 5%, 330 ml | 13.0 g | ~140 | ~110 |
| Belgian strong beer 8%, 330 ml | 20.8 g | ~230 | ~110 |
| Sweet pink sparkling 6% (135 g/L), 150 ml | 7.1 g | ~131 | ~185 |
| Rum and regular coke, 4 cl + 200 ml | 12.6 g | ~170 | ~135 |
A unit = 10 g ethanol (Belgian / Dutch standard). "kcal / unit" is the number that matters: it's what a given buzz costs you, regardless of glass size.
| Sparkling wine says | Sugar g/L |
|---|---|
| Brut nature / zero dosage | 0–3 |
| Extra brut | 0–6 |
| Brut | < 12 |
| Extra dry / extra sec | 12–17 |
| Sec / dry | 17–32 |
| Demi-sec | 32–50 |
| Doux / sweet | 50+ |
Still wines use dry / off-dry / medium / sweet (or trocken / halbtrocken / lieblich / süß). If the label says nothing, the alcohol % is the tell: a sparkling at 5–7% stopped fermenting early and kept its sugar — assume 50–140 g/L. Since 2023, EU wine labels must list kcal per 100 ml, often behind a QR code; that's the exact number to use.