Standard drinks come in many different shapes and sizes, it all depends on what you’re drinking.
Do you know how much a standard drink is? No, not a serving of a drink like “a can of beer” or a “glass of wine”, we’re talking about the official™ Australian definition of what constitutes one standard drink. Do you know? Let’s see…
1. Which of these is one standard drink?
A) An espresso martini
B) One schooner of full strength beer
C) One nip of tequila
D) One pot of mid strength beer
Answer: C – a standard nip of tequila in Australia is 30mL and equal to one standard drink.
2. True or False: a glass of wine poured in a restaurant is one standard drink.
Answer: False. A standard restaurant pour is 150mL of wine, which means a restaurant pour of 13% alcohol wine would be 1.5 standard drinks.
3. How many mLs is a standard drink of full strength beer?
A) 285mL – one pot/middy
B) 425mL – one schooner
C) 570mL – one pint
D) 1140mL – one jug
Answer: A – 285mL, a pot/middy of full strength beer is equal to one standard drink.
In Australia we’ve officially defined one standard drink as containing 10g of alcohol. As you can tell from how well (or how badly) you did on the quiz above, what equates to a standard drink involves different factors like portion size and the type of alcohol.
Let’s get scientific for just a minute – different types of alcoholic drinks contain different amounts of pure alcohol. That’s why you’ll see the amount of alcohol in a drink listed as a percentage. For example, a full strength beer is usually around 4.9% while a bottle of wine is around 13%. That means the different strengths and serving sizes of drinks can make it tricky to keep track of how many standards you’ve had. Still with us?
To make things easy our handy standard drinks guide is here to help:
Full Strength Beer 4.8% alcohol, 285ml glass
Mid Strength Beer 3.5% alcohol, 375mL can
Light Beer 2.7% alcohol, 425ml glass
Wine (regular or sparkling) 13% alcohol, 100ml average serving
Spirits 40% alcohol, 30ml nip
Cider 4.9% alcohol, 285ml glass
The best way to look after yourself and enjoy a few drinks without any stress is to simply keep track of your standards. Here’s a few tricks that’ll help:
Look at the label: all alcohol packaging in Australia must show the number of standard drinks they contain. Check it out next time you pick up a can or bottle.
Ask the staff: anyone selling or serving alcohol should be trained on drink standards, don’t be afraid to ask them for help. And if you’re drinking a mixed drink like a cocktail, the bartender should be able to tell you the standard drinks it contains.
Use a drinks calculator: the good folks at DrinkWise have a super handy drinks calculator that’ll do the maths for you.
Even if you aced the quiz above it’s never a bad idea to check in with your standards next time you’re having a few. Because at the end of the day we all want to be able to kick back, relax, and enjoy a drink responsibly.
