One Drink
What is meant by "One Drink"?
Knowing how to count standard drinks is necessary to calculating your blood alcohol concentrations. People usually underestimate how much they have had to drink because they aren't using standard measurements. "One Drink" means 1/2 ounce of pure 100% alcohol. This is the definition used to calculate BAC levels, establish metabolism times, and so forth.Beer
One drink = one 12-ounce beer. This is normal-strength regular beer (4.5% alcohol). Micro-brews, ice beer, and malt liquor have a higher percentage of alcohol (look at the label).- Examples (assuming a 12 ounce beer)
For beer, here is a fast way to know the number of drinks:
- Read the label
- Find the percent of alcohol
- Divide that by 4.5
Regular
Bud
= 1 drink
Light
Miller Lite
= .8 drink
Ice
Ice House
= 1.2 drink
Specialty / Micro-Brews
Sam Adams
= 1.3 drink
Malt Liquor
= 1.3 to 2 drinks
Liquor
One drink = 1.25 ounces of liquor (40% alcohol or 80 proof). This is how much whiskey, vodka, gin, etc. is in a typical, measured mixed drink or in a "shot." The amount of alcohol in different types of liquor can be very different.- Examples (based on 1.25 ounces of liquor)
Tequila
40%, 80 proof
= 1 drink
Rum
75.5%, 151 proof
= 1.9 drinks
Vodka
40%, 80 proof
= 1 drink
Wine Coolers 12 oz.
6-8%, 12-16 proof
= 1 to 1.5 drinks
Everclear
95%, 190 proof
= 2 drinks
Wine
One drink = 5 ounces of standard wine -- this is most table wines: white, red, rose, champagne.One drink = 3 ounces of fortified wine -- this is wine with more than 13% alcohol content, such as brandy, cognac or sherry.
