How Much Am I Drinking?
When we drink an alcoholic beverage, there are so many variables that it is difficult to keep track of how much alcohol we are consuming. Glasses, cans and bottles come in different sizes. Different drinks contain different percentages of alcohol. The simplest way to measure your intake of alcohol is in Standard Drinks.
What is a Standard Drink?
In Ireland a Standard Drink has about 10 grams of pure alcohol in it. In the UK a Standard Drink, also called a unit of alcohol, has about 8 grams of pure alcohol.
Here are some examples of a Standard Drink:
- A pub measure of spirits (35.5ml)
- A small glass of wine (12.5% volume)
- A half pint of normal beer
- An alcopop (275ml bottle)
A bottle of wine at 12.5% alcohol contains about seven Standard Drinks.
A Standard Drink is a drink that contains 10g of pure alcohol. (10g is the weight of about 12.7 ml of pure alcohol) |
In Ireland at present, bottles and cans do not indicate the number of Standard Drinks they contain. So, if you want to know how much you are drinking, you need to know how many standard drinks are in a typical bottle or glass.
A rough guide to Standard Drinks is as follows:
The drink | The strength | The amount | Number of Standard Drinks |
Beer Lager Stout | Normal strength (about 4.5%) | Half pint | 1 |
|
| Pint 500 ml can | 2 |
| Strong (7%) | Half pint | 1½ |
|
| Pint 500 ml can | 3 |
Cider | 6% | Pint 500 ml | 2½ |
Wine | 12.5% | Quarter bottle (185.7ml) | 2 |
|
| 750ml bottle | 7½ |
| 14% | Quarter bottle (185.7ml) | 2 |
|
| 750ml bottle | 8½ |
Spirits (Vodka, Whiskey, Gin, etc.) | 40% | 750ml bottle | 24 |
| 40% | Single measure in a pub (35ml) | 1 |
Recommended weekly guidelines
Low risk weekly guidelines for adults are:
- Less than 11 standard drinks (approx. 110g of alcohol) in a week for women, and
- Less than 17 standard drinks (approx. 170g of alcohol) in a week for men.
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