Why do no alcohol brands have a nutrition label in the UK? The sugar UK brands don't want you to see

No nutrition label on your can of booze? Here's why.

Pick up a bag of crisps in a UK supermarket and by law it has to declare its calories, sugar, fat and salt. Pick up a can of vodka soda, gin and tonic, rum and coke or tequila soda next to it, and none of that applies. Not because those drinks don't contain sugar and calories. Because UK law doesn't require brands to say so.

If you've ever searched "does alcohol have a nutrition label UK" or "how much sugar is in a vodka soda", the honest answer is: it depends entirely on whether the brand feels like telling you.

Spilling the tea on the UK alcohol nutrition label loophole

Under UK food law, any drink above 1.2% ABV is exempt from mandatory nutrition declarations and full ingredients lists. That covers the whole RTD (ready to drink) category: vodka soda, gin and tonic, rum and coke, tequila soda, hard seltzers, pre-mixed spirits, canned cocktails, flavoured vodka cans, the lot. Brands can voluntarily show calories, and if they choose to go further, a full sugar and nutrition breakdown, but neither is required. The only things every can legally has to show are the drink name, ABV, allergens and a UK business address.

Compare that to soft drinks, where full nutrition labelling has been mandatory for years, and the gap looks less like an oversight and more like a loophole the alcohol industry has been quietly relying on.

How much sugar is really in your RTD?

This is where it gets uncomfortable. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London, working with the campaign group Action on Sugar, tested 202 RTD alcoholic drinks sold across major UK supermarkets. The findings:

• Only 41% of products checked in store carried any nutrition information at all.

• Just 9% disclosed sugar content on the label.

• Nine out of ten pre-mixed spirits gave shoppers zero sugar information.

And the sugar itself wasn't subtle. Among the worst offenders the survey uncovered:

• A pre-mixed passionfruit martini with more than 12 teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml pack.

• A popular blue alcopop with 59g of sugar in a 700ml bottle, about the same as four iced doughnuts.

• A schnapps and lemonade RTD at 13g of sugar per 100ml.

• A pink gin and tonic matching the sugar density of a can of cola.

• Some 250ml pre-mixed G&T cans carrying up to nine teaspoons of sugar, again, roughly a can of cola's worth.

For anyone typing "gin and tonic can sugar content" or  "tequila soda sugar content UK" into Google right now, that's the honest range you're working with. It varies wildly by brand, and most brands won't tell you which end of it you're getting.

Why this loophole is genuinely absurd.

The UK's Soft Drinks Industry Levy taxes soft drinks once they hit 5g of sugar per 100ml. A pre-mixed vodka lemonade can sail past that threshold and pay nothing, because it's classed as alcohol rather than a soft drink, even though the sugar hits your body exactly the same way either side of that line. Campaigners have pointed out how illogical that is, and it's genuinely hard to disagree.

Sugar is sugar. Whether it's in a lemonade or a spritz, it's the same calorie load, the same blood sugar spike, the same contribution to the sort of long-term health costs the NHS deals with every year. The only difference is that one can legally has to tell you, and the other doesn't have to say a word.

Do people actually want alcohol nutrition labels?

Yes, clearly. UK-wide polling has found that over half of adults want more comprehensive labelling on alcohol products, covering things like sugar, calories and health information. The demand is there. The regulation just hasn't caught up to meet it yet.

Is this changing?

Slowly. The UK government has signalled that calorie and nutrition information will eventually become mandatory on alcohol labels, with health warning requirements also under consultation. Ireland has already moved first, requiring alcohol products to carry health warnings, pregnancy warnings, calorie content and grams of alcohol from May 2026. In the UK, though, no implementation date has been confirmed, and a government-commissioned study into the impact of alcohol calorie labelling isn't due to report until 2026. Until it's law, it's optional. And optional, for most of the RTD category, has meant silence.

Why Besa's nutrition label is already on the can.

We didn't wait for the law to make us do it. Every can of Besa, whatever the flavour, carries the full breakdown right on the front: 8% ABV, 0g sugar, 110 calorie, 0 carbs. Not because we have to. Because transparency is one of the four things Besa is built on, and you can't claim to stand for that while leaving people to guess what's actually in their ready-to-drink alcohol cans.

The RTD industry has a sugar problem and a disclosure problem, and the second one is what's letting the first one hide. We'd rather just put the numbers where you can see them and let the drink speak for itself.

FAQS

Does alcohol need a nutrition label in the UK?
No. UK law exempts drinks above 1.2% ABV from mandatory nutrition declarations. Labelling sugar, calories and ingredients is currently voluntary.

How much sugar is in a vodka soda or gin and tonic can?
It varies hugely by brand. Independent testing has found some pre-mixed RTDs carrying up to nine teaspoons of sugar in a single 250ml can, while others, including sugar-free options, contain none.

Is alcohol nutrition labelling going to become mandatory?
The UK government has signalled it will, but no date has been confirmed. Ireland already requires calorie and health information on alcohol labels from May 2026.