6 Least Acidic Alcoholic Drinks

Our list of 6 least acidic alcoholic drinks, might be useful if you are in need of a drink yet are a health aware individual. Whether you are looking for literally less acidic drinks as determined by their pH level, or drinks that won’t mess with the alkaline diet that you might be following, or are just looking for drinks that won’t cause an increase in your gastric acid output, we’ve got you covered. If you are swimming in cash, and you’d like to surprise your liver with an expensive “gift”, take a look at our list of the Most Expensive Alcohol Brands In The World.

Getting the accurate information on pH values of different alcoholic beverages proved to be an unexpectedly difficult task, and the best data we could find is from the Comprehensive Handbook of Alcohol Related Pathology. The book, unfortunately, does not have pH values for various kinds of drinks, but instead provides pH ranges for different drink categories, so making a list of 6 least acidic alcoholic drinks by pH values was not feasible. Wine pH range is from 2.8 to 3.8, sweet liquor drinks have a pH range from 3.3 to 3.9, Beer pH range is from 4.1 to 4.5, and the least acidic of all are the strong alcoholic drinks with a pH range from 6.5 to 6.9. Any kind of drink that has got a pH value lower than 5.5 and is drank frequently can cause dental erosion. However, heavy drinkers are more likely to destroy their teeth via frequent vomiting than solely from drinking acidic drinks. If you are interested in less acidic drinks because you care for your oral health, then you should be more worried by the carbohydrate content of the drink. Strong alcoholic drinks tend to have the least sugars and to be the least acidic, so they seem to be the best choice if you have sensitive teeth.

If you are following some form of alkaline diet, then you should already know that the pH value of food or drink does not really tell you whether it has an alkalizing or an acidifying effect on your body. Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) is a scientific standard for estimating the acid or alkaline effect of food, and foodary is a great source of PRAL values of various foods and beverages and also has information on diet in general. Looking at their list of 38 alkaline alcoholic drinks we’ve discovered that only one drink in the list is actually acidic. As most alcoholic drinks have either small alkaline effect or are just neutral, making a list of 6 least acidic alcoholic drinks with PRAL scores does not make sense.

It is most likely that you are reading this article because you’d like to know what alcoholic drinks you can drink without them causing you stomach pain or acid reflux. If you are suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease or gastritis, you really should not be drinking, as all alcoholic drinks can only aggravate your condition, and if you have a problem and have not been diagnosed please see a doctor. That said, we’ve found a study that showed that fermented but not distilled alcoholic beverages cause a great increase in gastric acid output, while distilled alcoholic beverages cause a negligible increase in gastric acid output and some of them have as much effect as water. We decided to use data from this study for our list and to use one-hour incremental gastric acid output values for our ranking.

6. Calvados (Hors d’Age) 40% ABV

Calvados is an apple brandy, though there are variants that include pears in the production. Producers of Calvados sometimes use over a 100 varieties of apples for making cider that is to be distilled and then aged into the Calvados. Calvados can be made by a single continuous distillation or by a double distillation. The quality of the Calvados is measured by its age, and Hors d’Age must be at least six years old.

5. Pernod 40% ABV

Pernod is among the top selling anise-flavored spirits in the world, created after the ban of absinthe.

4. Campari 25% ABV

Campari is a liqueur, an aperitif and an essential ingredient of many cocktails.

3. Whiskey (Ballantine’s) 43% ABV

A strictly regulated spirit worldwide, Whiskey, the number three on our list of least acidic alcoholic drinks is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash, distilled and aged in wooden barrels.

2. Cognac (Remy Martin) 40% ABV

Cognac is a type of brandy that is made by doubly distilling white wines and is aged in oak barrels. It is made in the authorized region in France. This kind of brandy scored a little better than its “cousin” Armagnac that did not manage to get into our list.

1. Rum (Bacardi Superior Gold Rum) 37.5% ABV

Made from sugarcane by-products, by the process of fermentation and distillation and usually aged in oak barrels, Rums are produced in various grades. There is no single standard for categorization of different types of Rum, as each country of origin has its naming standards, a different minimum for aging, and different minimum alcohol content. With a favorite pirate’s drink at the top, we finish our list of 6 least acidic alcoholic drinks.