After being on keto for a while, there may come a time when you want to go to happy hour with co-workers or enjoy a cocktail with friends or family. While this isn’t something you should do all the time, you can still have alcohol and follow the ketogenic lifestyle..

Just like anything else, you need to know how many carbs are in the alcoholic beverages. Here are some things to know about drinking alcohol while on keto.

Stick to the Clear Liquors

The first thing you should do if you want to have alcohol while on keto is to choose your liquor. This does tend to be better than other alcohol as far as the carbs and calories go. When choosing liquor, the easiest thing to do is go with your clear liquors. They tend to be lower in carbs before you mix anything with them. It is often what you mix liquor with that increases the carbs and other macros, so try to have it straight, or combined just with water. Some good clear liquors to try are rum, tequila, gin, and vodka. Some colored liquors are okay, but in lesser quantities, like dark rum or whiskey.

Stick to White Wine

As far as wine goes, the amount you have determines whether or not it will fit in your keto diet. For the most part, they all average around 3-3.5 carbs per serving, but white wines do tend to be lower in carbs overall. Sauvignon blanc is the wine with the least amount of carbs, with 2.7 carbs per glass. Other white wines that are good options are pinot grigio, champagne, and chardonnay. Stay away from Riesling, which is sweet and is over 5 carbs per glass. For red wines, the best ones are pinot noir and merlot.

Light Beer Occasionally

If you are more of a beer fan, you can still have beer, but like anything on keto, you need to know the carb count and make sure you are tracking it. It is a better idea to plan on when you will have beer, so that you eat mostly low carb foods for the rest of the day. Many light beers will have about 3-5 net carbs beer can or bottle, so it can add up fast when you are only allotted 20 carbs in the entire day. This is why tracking while on keto is so important.