What alcoholic drinks are "healthier"?

Dear ,
I like to drink socially. I also like being healthy. Yes, I know these two things are not 100% aligned, but that's between me and my god. What I want to know is: When I'm ordering my next drink, which drinks are the "healthiest" options, from a caloric perspective?

I get where you're coming from, and hey, as you've no doubt heard before, moderate drinking has some possible health benefits (though even that line of thinking may be a sham). One thing we know for sure is that regularly drinking in excess is very unhealthy—whether for your liver or your waistline. So like you said, rather than delve into hand-wringing over the health aspects of the alcohol itself, let's simply focus on the question: What drinks are healthiest from a caloric perspective?

I'll try to make this quick.

Wine Is Better than Beer, Beer Is Better than Mixed Drinks: Sometimes True Except When It Isn't

There are no hard-and-fast rules across alcohol categories; the total calorie count can vary considerably depending on what goes into your drink-of-choice. Let's say you're just having one drink. Generally speaking, a serving of wine has fewer calories than a serving of beer, which in turn has fewer calories than a serving of many mixed drinks. Naturally, that's far too easy, and as such, is not always true.

Let's break it down by type:

Note: For brevity, I'm focusing on calories and skipping talk about carbs and other dietary aspects of drinks. As everyone knows, for example, beer has a lot of carbs. Most wines and liquors are low-carb affairs.

The Easiest Choices: Wine or Liquor

If you want to make the choice as simple as possible, go with wine or liquor. Note that I said liquor, not mixed drinks. As WebMD points out:

"It's the mixers, syrups, and sodas that really get people into calorie trouble, because most drinks start with 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits that only have around 96 calories, but mixologists can easily turn that into a drink with hundreds of calories," says Carolyn O'Neil, MS, RD, co-author of The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous.

If calories are a concern and you're a lover of the liquor on its own, consider ordering it neat or on the rocks and skipping the mixer altogether. According to this web site's measures, a 1.5-ounce serving of vodka, gin, whiskey, rum, tequila, etc. packs a roughly 100-calorie punch. Not bad.

A 5-ounce serving of wine (red, white, cab, grigio) will likewise pack in about 100 calories.

Beer: It Can Cost You

So then there's beer. Again, these numbers will vary depending on the beer your order (and the size of the glass). Web site Beer100's fairly comprehensive calorie chart lists "light" beers ranging 90-100 calories per 12-ounce serving, while topping out at around 300 calories.

Generally speaking, "light" beer has fewer calories than a traditional lager, which has fewer calories than an ale. For most beer lovers, that basically means flavor is directly proportional to calories. Want more flavor? Prepare for a higher calorie drink.

Mixed Drinks: Know Your Ingredients

Mixed drinks have the highest potential for going calorically astronomical. As discussed above, you're normally starting with a base of about 100 calories for your liquor. Once you start adding mixers, you've got to add your mixer to the count—and most mixers add up fast. According to WebMD, a 6-ounce pina colada is about 380 calories (more than pretty much any serving of beer, wine, or straight liquor). An 8-ounce mojito is 214 calories (more calories than a serving of wine, more than some beers, less than a 1.5-ounce serving of your favorite liquor).

Drink Like This

You don't want pull out your calorie calculator next time you saddle up to the bar, so with all that out of the way, you'd probably still like some more specific directions. So let's talk brass tacks:

• Drink wine. It's low in calories.
• Drink liquor. By itself. It's low in calories.
• If you can't do without your mixed drinks, consider diet tonic, sodas, juices, etc. WebMD offers this list of low-calorie mixers
• .If diet mixers aren't an option, most martinis are low on calories (apart from the obvious, like chocolate martinis)
• Gin and tonic is not bad (around 200 calories), but the tonic can add up fast.
• Light beer is healthier than your favorite pale ale. Shocker!
• If you want to faceoff your favorite drinks, head over to web site Get Drunk Not Fat.

As a casual drinker myself, I get that there's a tradeoff for many of you. For a lot of these options, you're trading fewer calories for less flavor. (The big exception: Liquor. You get more flavor than most can handle for a low caloric pricetag.) Sure, I like the tingly, inhibition-lowering aspects of drinking, but I actually really like the taste of my alcohols of choice. If you want to avoid the waistline bulge but you also want to drink what you like, it works like this:

• Once you have more than two drinks, you're already in "unhealthy" territory. If it's a simple social gathering and not a wild night out, the healthiest thing will be to cut yourself off after a couple.
• Try switching between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the night. Sparkling water with a squeeze of citrus can be refreshing, and it has the added benefit of not looking like a buzz kill.

Obviously this isn't a silver bullet situation. As many readers have pointed out, there's also a lot more to "health" than calories. Find what works for you and go with it. If self-control is a problem, and you have a hard time cutting yourself off, then you want to aim in the vicinity of the low-calorie but often less-flavorful drinks. If you're good at cutting yourself off, I recommend the indulgence... at least short of the 400-calorie flaming mixed drinks.

Love,
Lifehacker

P.S. Got a favorite, go-to "healthy" drink? Share it in the comments, complete with ingredients and calorie-count, and we'll add it the post below.

Your Favorite "Healthy" Drinks

• Vodka mixed with True Lemon Raspberry Lemonade mix (5 calories and All Natural!) 105 Calories...not bad and tastes really good! — deedub113
• Lost 60lbs and lowered by cholesterol to an acceptable level from switching form beer to vodka and water.

Thank you vodka, thank you. — Strohsx

• Flavored vodka in club soda. No cals from the mixer, lots of flavor from the booze, which come in so many flavors, the orange or citron ones are the most refreshing I find, but vodka comes in such a wide variety of flavors, its basically like adding a boozy flavor syrup to club soda. — Geo-Therapy Care Fest
• My go-to drink is a vodka and seltzer with a twist of lime. The lime adds enough flavor to keep it from tasting like watered-down vodka, and I'm not adding any calories with the seltzer. — Philbo
• A friend of mine introduced me to the "low carb" margarita. Tequila, lime seltzer water, and Rose's lime to taste. Obviously if you use a lot of rose's lime you miss the point - but it tastes great and has buckets less calories than a standard margarita. — magpieshoard
• My favorite low-cal/low sugar beverages are the diet Cuba Libre (Rum, diet Coke, lime) and the California Margarita (muddled lime wedges, tequila and soda water). Citrus helps your body regulate sugar, so don't forget the lime. — Casey Sears
• Skinny Bitch is by far the healthiest you can drink in my opinion. Vodka and sparkling water with a twist of fresh lemon. — j.c.noergaard
• Scotch. With water (or melting ice cubes in summer).

Heresy to some, but quite sublime. — BK Phil

• I LOVE my Gin and Tonics. You can use diet Tonic water and a spash of lime to save on calories over regular tonic.

When I'm not drinking gin and tonic, I drink red wines.

Another popular drink if you don't like gin is bacardi and diet coke, or bacardi and diet sprite.

If you like Vodka, go with a screwdriver or a vodka and sprite or something. Fruit juices have a lot of sugar, but are usually healthy. Cranberry and vodka is also a good option. Just stay away from syrups and pre-packaged mixers like the article suggests. — Shawn Wayne

• Another suggestion for low-calorie booze-free delicious beverages: soda water with bitters. You can get bitters in all kinds of flavours (my favourite are rhubarb or grapefruit, but I usually stick to the classic Angostura) and you only need a few dashes for serious flavour. If you want it boozy, just add a shot of gin, whiskey, rum, or whatever (vodka would completely evaporate into the flavour of the bitters, if you're into that), and adjust the ratios depending on how much kick you want.

I usually just do a sugar-free Old Fashioned. Bourbon, citrus, orange or grapefruit, and bitters. If I'm feeling wild, some maple syrup. — ryanrutley

• Everyone drinking vodka & soda ... try switching to (good) gin and soda. You'll be happier for it. — cc
• Gimlets. Gin, ice and a small splash of Rose's Lime. No surgery sodas or anything — Everyday I'm Shuffle
• A 12-ounce bottle of Guinness Draught will provide 126 delicious calories. — Orion126
• No bloody mary love? Tomato ~40/8oz V8 (spicy) ~50/8oz

Plus veggie goodness for the blitzed vegans out there. — Bronx or Bust

• Beer is going to be the healthiest in many cases since real beer contains the same amount of antioxidants as red wine and has actual nutrients, including B vitamins. Of course you have to drink unfiltered beer (so homebrew or some commercially available belgians or hefeweizens). But drinking 150 empty calories of vodka isn't going to be better than drinking 300 calories of beer with actual vitamins and yeast that hasn't been killed. And beer is delicious. — redpensplease
• Hot Toddy: honey, lemon, hot water or tea, and then the whiskey.

A honey of a business: Draper Super Bee Apiaries buzzes with activity

MILLERTON -- Back in the early '70s, Bill Draper's brother-in-law gave him an old, well-worn beehive.

It sat in his backyard while Draper pondered its future -- and his own.

One question buzzed around Draper's brain: "To bee or not to bee?"

Fortunately for Draper and tens of thousands of customers over the next nearly 40 years, he chose the sweet life, and Draper's Super Bee Apiaries was born.

Now the company, housed in barn and outbuildings just west of Millerton in northeastern Tioga County, Pa., remains one of the biggest bee businesses in Pennsylvania, selling 500,000 pounds of honey a year, along with hundreds of other bee-related products.

A couple of factors influenced Draper's decision.

"While the hive was in the backyard, a swarm of bees came in," said Draper, now 63.

"I had never seen a swarm there before. I kind of took that as a sign. It's like this was meant to be."

His father Bernie, a retired Wesleyan-Methodist minister, had also caught the buzz.

He was getting up in years and dreamed of creating a honey-handling and beekeeper supply business to keep busy.

"Dad was not very mobile," Draper said. "But he had some financial resources. And he decided he wanted to do this. It was kind of a back-to-the-land thing, something that was popular back then.

"He and I worked together," Draper said. "I did the work, and he talked to people on the phone."

The dream took root, and the business took off. But it was never easy or without constant challenges.

Bernie passed away. Bill and son Royal, now 43, built the business, eventually amassing millions of bees and tons of honey.

Beware mites, bears
But starting in the 1980s, fragile bee populations perished by the billions worldwide from a variety of causes.

"In the '80s, it was the tracheal mite," Draper said. "Very small. It devastated the bees.

"In the '90s, we had the varroa mite. It was bigger and much more visible. That one sucked the blood out of the bees.

"In the years 2000 to 2010, we had colony collapse syndrome," he said.

"It was a worldwide thing. Whole colonies would just die. Everyone has different ideas about what caused it, why it happened. I believe it was several things: environmental issues, weather issues, stress issues."

A huge percentage of the honeybee population worldwide died off, he said. But the natural selection process may have saved the day -- and bode for a better future.

"We are hoping the remaining bees have a survival gene that will cause populations to expand and handle natural stresses better," he said.

"This year, maybe we're taking a step in the right direction."

Much depends on the weather.

An especially hot summer will hurt chances, he said. Plants wilt, bees are stressed and can't produce honey, and it's back to falling populations.

As Draper's business grew, Bill and Royal increased the number of hives from 100 to 1,000, producing 60,000 to 100,000 pounds of honey a year.

Now, Bill and Royal have scaled hives back to 240, in a dozen areas, all protected by electric fences to keep colonies' greatest enemy -- black bears -- at bay. It works.

"When they get zapped by 60 amps, it definitely discourages them," Draper said.

Sweet success
But despite the drop in local honey production, Draper's remains busier than ever. In fact, product diversity is what sets Draper's apart from others in the bee biz.

Take honey: Draper's offers a dozen kinds, many gathered from other states.

Acacia honey is very light and smooth; buckwheat, dark and full-bodied. Orange blossom is light, with a fresh scent, exceptionally sweet on the tongue. Tulip poplar, light in color and mildly flavored. Clover honey -- much of it local -- is the most popular by far. Tupelo honey, produced near Tallahassee, Fla., is always in very short supply.

Draper's produces four varieties: clover, wildflower, goldenrod and basswood.

Customers come from everywhere. For many years, Draper's supplied all of the honey needs of the White House. Stricter security following 9/11 ended that.

But Draper's continues to ship nature's sweetest treat across the country and the oceans.

"We send honey to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden," Draper said.

"We have a customer in the United Arab Emirates who will only eat Draper honey. He buys it by the four-gallon case every few months. Shipped to the Emirates, that's $600 a case."

Honey prices, in fact, have jumped sharply due to several factors, including the bee blight and the principle of supply and demand.

"There's always a worldwide shortage," Draper said. "There's never enough high-quality honey to go around.

"We used to sell a pound of comb honey in a little box for 95 cents. The same thing nowadays is $6.95 to $9.95."

Draper sells honey for $3.95 for a five-ounce mug to $200 for a five-gallon pail.

Bees and more
But diversity means lots more than honey.

Draper's provides other beekeepers with the supplies they need, from beginners' kits to hand-made observation hives that let folks watch bees at work (a couple are on display in Moscow).

Bees themselves are a hot commodity -- especially in light of regional population collapses.

Sales of queens -- the heart of the hive -- are popular: $32.95 for an "Italian queen," $38.95 for an "All-American" queen. Package bees run $125, shipped, including a queen.

"In some northern areas, two-pound packages produce an average of 225 pounds year after year," Draper said.

"The All-Americans will produce more honey than ordinary bees. They are capable of producing enormous crops if the weather cooperates."

A walk through Draper's showroom reveals more diversity.

A mini-museum displays 100 or so honey brands and varieties. There are bee books: "Favorite Honey Recipes" shares shelf space with "Honey, I'm Homemade" and "Honey: The Gourmet Medicine."

There are bee-proof suits and smokers to render bees docile, bee DVDs and a flour-sack towel that reads "I'm buzzed on local honey."

"Business varies with the time of year," Draper said.

"It's always changing. In spring, we have a huge amount of tours booked: schools, buses, community groups. One annual tour comes all the way from Baltimore.

"The peak for honey sales is fall and spring," he said. "Also, around some ethnic holidays."

Busy as a bee
Despite the spring and fall sales, Draper likes summer best, when he can get outside with the hives and critters and let the four other full-time workers handle the office.

"No one bugs me," he said. "I can't hear the telephone. I'm in my own little world, me and the bees."

This time of year, a Draper's van patrols the East Coast, delivering honey and bees. So far this year, the company has sold one van-load of bees -- that's several million -- and is part way through another.

But business can be difficult, too.

"The biggest challenge we face is maintaining inventories of the things beekeepers want," Draper said.

"From comb boxes to jar lids, we are always running out of things. Suppliers don't want to maintain a big inventory. It's difficult."

But Draper insists on old-time individual attention, and he isn't likely to change.

"You can call us with any questions and ... an actual person will answer the phone," he said. "No recordings. No pressing number-two to get service."

That actual person is most likely to be Draper. That's the way it has always been and the way it will stay.

Draper would like to slow down a little, spend more time with his bees and less with a phone in his hand.

But the man who has built a thriving business from a hand-me-down hive and survived mites and collapses and bears is nothing if not a realist.

"I would like to be doing less," he said. "But I can see that isn't happening."