Vodka Soda Calories: 97 in a Standard Pour, 78 on Our Menu

Last updated: October 2026

Order a vodka soda in most Wisconsin bars and you are drinking about 97 calories. Order the Ripsaw Vodka Soda at Ripsaw Saloon in Prentice and the number printed on our menu reads 78. Both figures are real, and the 19-calorie gap between them explains more about drink calories than any chart you will find online.

Quick Answer: A vodka soda built with 1.5 ounces of 80-proof vodka, club soda, and a lime wedge contains about 97 calories. Every one of those calories comes from the vodka. Club soda has zero calories, and a squeeze of fresh lime adds roughly one. MedlinePlus lists 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits at 97 calories, which matches the NIAAA standard drink of 14 grams of pure alcohol multiplied by the 7 calories in every gram of ethanol.

What is a vodka soda, exactly?

A vodka soda is vodka, carbonated water, and a citrus garnish served over ice in a tall glass. There is no syrup and no juice in the build, which is why it lands at the bottom of every calorie chart. The drink holds three ingredients, and only one of them carries calories.

Bartenders call it a well drink because it needs no shaking and no measuring beyond the shot. That simplicity is also why it is the honest drink on the menu. Nothing in the glass hides what the alcohol is doing.

The three ingredients and what each one costs

Vodka: 97 calories per standard 1.5-ounce measure

Vodka is distilled to roughly 40% alcohol by volume, which is 80 proof. At that strength a 1.5-ounce pour holds 0.6 ounces of pure ethanol, and that ethanol is where the entire calorie load sits. Plain vodka has no sugar and no carbohydrate content left after distillation.

Club soda: zero calories, zero sugar

Club soda is water with dissolved carbon dioxide and a trace of added minerals. The federal nutrition record for it is zero calories per serving. This is the single reason a vodka soda beats a vodka and tonic, and the gap is not small.

Lime: about one calorie per wedge

A squeezed lime wedge adds roughly one calorie. Even a full ounce of fresh lime juice comes in near 8 calories at USDA FoodData Central. Squeeze two wedges and you have added fewer calories than one bite of bread.

Where the 97-calorie number comes from

Pure alcohol delivers 7 calories per gram. That figure is the foundation of every drink calorie chart published by a health agency, and it sits between the 4 calories per gram in carbohydrate and the 9 calories per gram in fat.

A US standard drink contains 14 grams of pure alcohol, the equivalent of 0.6 fluid ounces of ethanol. Multiply 14 grams by 7 calories and you reach 98 calories of alcohol in a standard drink. The one-calorie difference from the 97 in the MedlinePlus table comes from rounding at each step, not from any disagreement about the science.

The four-step math for any drink

You can compute the alcohol calories in anything on the rail with four steps, and none of them needs an app.

Get the volume in fluid ounces. Divide milliliters by 29.57 to convert.
Multiply the volume by the ABV written as a decimal. A 1.5-ounce pour of 40% vodka means 1.5 times 0.40, which equals 0.6 ounces of pure alcohol.
Multiply the alcohol ounces by 163, the calorie content of one fluid ounce of pure ethanol.
Add the mixers. Carbohydrates and sugars carry 4 calories per gram, and that is where a cocktail separates from a straight pour.

Worked example: 1.5 ounces of 80-proof vodka

1.5 times 0.40 equals 0.6 ounces of ethanol, and 0.6 times 163 equals 98 calories from the alcohol alone. Add club soda at zero and a lime wedge at one, and the glass holds 97 to 99 calories depending on where you round. The math is that short.

Why the Ripsaw menu says 78

Our menu lists the Ripsaw Vodka Soda at 78 calories because that is what we pour. Run the same arithmetic backward and the number tells you the build. 78 calories of ethanol divides to about 0.48 ounces of pure alcohol, which is roughly 1.2 ounces of 80-proof vodka. It is a shorter pour than the 1.5-ounce federal standard, and we print the real number instead of the flattering one.

You can taste the difference in a soda drink, because there is nothing in the glass to hide behind. We would rather a regular know exactly what is in front of them than guess from a chart that assumes a pour we do not use.

What a shorter pour actually changes

The 19-calorie gap between 97 and 78 is small on its own. Over three drinks it reaches 57 calories, which is more than half of a light beer. If calories are the reason you order a vodka soda in the first place, the pour size matters as much as the mixer, and most bars will not tell you which one they use.

How a vodka soda compares to beer, wine, and other mixed drinks

The Center for Science in the Public Interest notes that you cannot read the calories in a drink off most labels or menus, because only chain restaurants are required to disclose them. The counts below come from the MedlinePlus Calorie Count for Alcoholic Beverages table published by the US National Library of Medicine, with the serving sizes from that table.

Drink	Serving size	Calories
Vodka soda, lime	1.5 oz spirit plus soda	97
Rum and Diet Coke	8 fl oz	100
Light beer	12 fl oz	103
White table wine	5 fl oz	121
Cosmopolitan	2.75 fl oz	146
Regular beer	12 fl oz	153
Rum and Coke	8 fl oz	185
Vodka and tonic	7 fl oz	189

Vodka soda vs beer

A vodka soda and a light beer land within 6 calories of each other, and a regular beer runs 56 calories higher. Alcohol content differs though. The vodka soda carries a full 0.6 ounces of ethanol, while a 4% light beer carries closer to 0.5 ounces.

Vodka soda vs vodka and tonic

Regular tonic water is sweetened, and that is the whole difference. MedlinePlus puts a 7-ounce vodka and tonic at 189 calories against 97 for the soda version, so the mixer alone adds about 92 calories. Ask for diet tonic and the drink drops back near the vodka soda.

Vodka soda vs vodka and cranberry

Cranberry juice cocktail runs about 46 calories per 100 grams at USDA FoodData Central, which puts a 4-ounce pour near 55 calories. Swap the soda for it and you have turned a 97-calorie drink into one around 150 without changing the pour of vodka.

What we see from behind the bar at 1117 Railroad Ave

The vodka soda is our second-best seller after the Wisconsin Old Fashioned, and it sells for $8. We go through four bottles of Tito’s on a Friday night, which says more about how Price County drinks than any survey does. People order it because it is fast and predictable.

What they rarely know is the math. A guest who orders a vodka soda and a guest who orders a whiskey and diet ginger ale are drinking the same 97 calories of alcohol, and we will build either one on request. We are open Monday and Thursday through Sunday from 2 PM to close, closed Tuesday and Wednesday at 1117 Railroad Ave in Prentice. The phone number is (715) 428-2042.

Frequently asked questions about vodka soda calories

How many calories are in a vodka soda?

A vodka soda with 1.5 ounces of 80-proof vodka, club soda, and a lime wedge has about 97 calories. The vodka carries all of it, since club soda is zero calories and a lime wedge adds about one.

Is a vodka soda the lowest-calorie cocktail?

It ties for the bottom with gin and diet tonic and with whiskey and diet ginger ale, both of which land near 97 calories because they use a zero-calorie mixer and a standard 1.5-ounce pour of 80-proof spirit.

How many calories are in a double vodka soda?

A double vodka soda holds about 194 calories, because the mixer adds nothing and the spirit doubles. The pour is the only variable that moves the number.

How many calories are in a vodka and club soda with lime?

The same 97 calories. Club soda and soda water are the same product under two names, and a lime wedge adds roughly one calorie either way.

Is vodka soda healthier than beer?

Gram for gram of alcohol they are close, because ethanol is ethanol. A 12-ounce light beer at 103 calories carries slightly less alcohol than a 1.5-ounce vodka soda, so the beer spread over a longer drink is the slower option across an evening.