Diageo, the parent company of Guinness Nigeria Plc has just revamped its DrinkiQ.com website to provide consumers with great transparency about its products and help them make better informed decisions about alcohol as part of a balanced lifestyle.

The new website provides more enhanced information on nutrition, calorie and alcohol contents of its brands which includes a breakdown of calories, carbohydrates, protein, saturated fat, sugar, caffeine and sodium content.

DrinkiQ.com also includes useful new tools such as a ‘Drinks Calculator’, to help consumers monitor their alcohol and calorie intake. In addition, it provides responsible drinking tips and advice on how food, age, size and gender affects how the body processes alcohol, plus an enhanced ‘What’s in your drink’ tool.

The company said that the announcement builds on the global commitment it made in March 2015, to voluntarily provide nutrition and alcohol content information per standardized serving on all its brands.

Carolyn Panzer, Alcohol in Society Director, Diageo said: “As people become more and more interested in their diet and lifestyle choices, we need to play our part. We know that consumers want nutritional information about what they drink – just as they do with the foods they eat; they also want a clear and easy way to know how much alcohol they are drinking. We believe passionately in helping people to understand what’s in their drink and to make informed choices about drinking or not drinking. Alcohol is alcohol. There is no drink of moderation – only a practice of moderation.”

The re-jigged site also includes the truth behind common myths around alcohol consumption – such as:

• “Spirits contain more alcohol than beer and wine”. In fact 25ml of distilled spirits (e.g. Smirnoff, Tanqueray) contains 8g alcohol, versus 16g in a pint of lager. Spirits also have fewer calories than wine or beer – 25ml of distilled spirits has approximately 55 calories compared to 125 calories in an average 175ml of wine or around 160 calories in a pint of lager.
• “Eating food means I can drink more”. In fact eating food only slows down how quickly alcohol is absorbed – it does not prevent it from having an effect on the body.
• “Drinking coffee sobers people up faster.” Coffee might make people feel more awake, but the alcohol still remains in the body and takes about one hour per one drink to process.

Sesan Sobowale, Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Nigeria said, “We are proud of the approach we have taken, over decades, to promote responsible alcohol consumption and help tackle harmful drinking. As part of our ambition to be leaders in addressing alcohol in society, we have set ourselves goals beyond our industry-wide commitments in our 2020 Sustainability and Responsibility targets for alcohol. Our revamped and re-launched DRINKIQ keeps us on track as we work towards the attainment of our sustainability and responsibility targets.

The new DRINKiQ.com is mobile-friendly and easy to use so that consumers can quickly access information about what’s in their favourite cocktail on their phone whenever they want.

The site is available in 24 countries and 12 languages, and has been designed to ensure content is tailored to the environment and regulation in the consumer’s location, particularly legal purchase age.