Carbohydrates?

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Does Bourbon have carbohydrates?

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

I just visited the Jack Daniels site, which has a similar question in their FAQ section, which I pasted here:

What are the calorie, sugar and gluten content of Jack Daniel's?

It may surprise you to learn that Jack Daniel's Black Label Tennessee

Whiskey has absolutely no carbohydrates (sugar or starch), gluten, fats,

or cholesterol, as these are removed in the distilling process. One fluid

ounce of Jack Daniel's contains approximately 72 calories.

I would suspect that most bourbon would be similar,

Hope this helps,

Mark A. Mason, El Dorado, Arkansas

[cowdery]

Thanks, Mark. That's good to know. I often get this question from people who have gluten allergies.

- chuck

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Zero carbohydrates. So does this make it an important part of Dr. Atkins' diet?

Cheers,

Bushido

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Bushido, funny you should ask. My daughter is currently dating a doctor's son with my same last name. We have had the good doctor over on several occasions, and I can tell you that Bourbon is sure as heck a part of his diet (except for when he is on call). In fact, he just gave me a fifth of Jack Daniels 1904 for my birthday. Cool bottle. I must give him credit, though, he drinks whatever I am drinking (which could be anything I have a curosity of purchase that week), uncut, no ice. (So now you know, I do have one friend with class).

Mark A. Mason, El Dorado, Arkansas

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

So what type of calories are the 72 calories in an ounce of Jack Daniels? If it is not fat or carbs, is it protein?

I suppose the question could be generalized for the calories that are in any grain alcohol (ethanol). I always thought the calories in ethanol were carbs.

-Bill

[Guest **DONOTDELETE**]

Bill, I have had the following exchange with the good folks at Jack Daniels for clarification on this point. It seems that we are getting a little hung up on the terminology:

Thanks for writing us a back.

The caloric content of Jack Daniel's comes from the ethanol itself. When you

talk about calories, you're talking about a measurement of potential energy --

namely the energy required it raise the temperature of one gram of water one

degree Celsius. All you have to do is drop a lit match in a container of

alcohol to see that there's plenty of potential energy present. Usually, when

folks think of calories they think about nutritional value, but in fact,

anything that can burn has "calories" whether its a piece of bread or a bucket

of gasoline, and I wouldn't recommend drinking the latter!

Thanks again for writing.

Randy and your friends at Jack Daniel's

You are correct that in food, calories are usually associated with proteins,

carbohydrates, or fat, but that does not mean that these are the only substances

that contain calories. Distilled spirits are not considered food. Alcohol

contain calories, but has no nutritional value, and is therefore placed in its

own category. In constrast, beer does contain carbohydrates, and therefore can

be considered a type of food, but whiskey is not.

For more information you may want to take a look at this website.

http://www.dietitian.com/alcohol.html

Thanks again for writing.

Randy and your friends at Jack Daniel's

Not satisified, I broused the houes library for more info:

The Encyclopaedia Britannica on the metabolism of Alcohol: The process in the liver (alcohol to Acetaaldehyde to acetate) delivers acetate to the bloodstream, (and the rest of the body) where it is ultimately oxidized to carbon dioxide and water. "Considerable utilizable energy- 7.1 calories from each gram of alcohol (about 200 calories per ounce)-is made available to the organism (I think this means us-MM) during these processes, and in this sense alcohol serves as a nutrient. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Later, in the article on Carbohydrates, carbohydrates are defined as containing Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen, usually with Carbon in the same proportion as Oxygen. Used as an energy source. Ethyl Alcohol (C2H6O) contains twice as much Carbon as Oxygen, so I guess calling it a carbohydrate is a stretch.

Another difference is that Carbohydrates deliver, on average, a little over 4 calories per gram. Ethyl alcohol is a bit more potent (energy wise) than that at 7.1 cal/gm (just as you suspected.). But you dieters out there be warned, if it delivers energy like a carbohydrate, for all intents and purposes it should count in your diet as a similiar energy source, whatever the technical classification. I just checked the website suggested by Randy at Jack Daniel's which gives a similiar account.

Now, hopefully you are not sorry you asked an Engineer for a little elaboration on a technical matter, we live for this stuff you know !!

Mark A. Mason, El Dorado, Arkansas