Visualizing the Buzz: Interactive Infographic Calculates Happy Hour Drink Calories

With transparency becoming more and more of a trend within the quick service industry as of late (a result of legislative pressures), one area that still seems to be light on the nutritional transparency are all those delicious happy hour drinks we guzzle week after week.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Coming just days after McDonald's announced they would be listing calorie counts on all their menu board offerings, creative agency Column Five decided to put out an interactive graphic that makes transparent another significant area of consumption: Happy Hour Drinks.

With transparency becoming more and more of a trend within the quick service industry as of late (a result of legislative pressures), one area that still seems to be light on the nutritional transparency are all those delicious happy hour drinks we guzzle week after week.

Would you still be inclined to suck dry that 8 oz Gin Martini if you knew it was setting you back 475 calories? Or how about your girlfriend's Appletini? You might put her into a calorie-counting-frenzy when she finds out she just ordered up 576 calories.

2012-09-17-image04.jpg

That's the kind of knowledge this new Interactive Happy Hour Guide drops on the end user. The piece features some impressive opening interactive elements and shows off some pretty photographs of cocktails shot at Orange County restaurant Memphis at the Santora. The guide gives insight into contemporary cocktails, classic cocktails, martinis, beers and wine. What's equally noteworthy is the interactive's inclusion of cocktail ingredients and alcohol content beside the daunting calorie counts, allowing you to figure out the best buzz for your buck.

It's all good though -- learning how many calories are in the very drinks that liquify our inhibitions is a small price to pay. Especially when it's presented as a pretty graphic. Am I right? Right.

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE