1. Pina Colada
The Pina Colada is a popular tropical cocktail made with rum, cream of coconut and pineapple juice. It is one of the sugariest cocktails, containing 40 grams of sugar from the cream of coconut and pineapple juice in an 8-ounce glass.
Drink alternatives: Coconut water or low-fat coconut milk instead of coconut cream and reduce the amount of pineapple juice.
2. Margarita
The classic Margarita is made with tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur (usually Triple Sec). While there are many different types of Margaritas, the average Margarita has 36 grams of sugar. Instead of using fresh lime juice and Triple Sec, some Margaritas are made with premixes, which are often high in sugar. A 100ml Margarita can contain around 10 grams of sugar.
Alternative drink: Make a Ranch water cocktail - usually tequila with soda water and a squeeze of lime juice.
3. Mai Tai
The Mai Tai is a combination of rum, lime juice, orange curacao, and almond syrup. The Mai Tai is inherently a sweet cocktail, with 32 grams of sugar per drink, even without the fruit juice and syrup.
Alternative drink: Use unsweetened almond milk and a splash of orange juice.
4. Appletin
Apple martinis, also known as appletinis, are cocktails made with vodka, apple schnapps, and a splash of lemon juice. There are about 18 grams of sugar in an 8-ounce (240-ml) appletini. The apple schnapps makes the appletini sweeter than a regular martini because it brings out the apple flavor.
Substitute: A regular dry martini, with almost no sugar, substitutes for the Appletini.
5. Mojito
The mojito is a cocktail made with rum, fresh lime juice, mint leaves, sugar, and soda water. The simple ingredients for a mojito are 2 tablespoons of sugar per serving, for a total of 8 grams of sugar, which makes it sweet. Some mojito sweeteners use a syrup made from water and sugar.
Alternative drink: Mix soda, rum with a dash of mint and a little lime — all the ingredients of a mojito but without the sugar.
