Standard drinks

Is your drink just one drink?

A standard drink comes in different shapes and sizes depending on what you’re drinking. If you understand what a standard drink of your favourite drop looks like, you’ll be better placed to stay in control when you’re getting social.

Can you pour a standard drink?

Three out of five Kiwis can pick a standard drink from a line up. But, can you pour one?

Drag the slider on the right of the image to fill the glass to where you think a standard drink is for this 37% bourbon.

Interesting isn’t it? It’s important to be able to recognise how much a standard drink is - 30mls for this bourbon.

Drag the slider on the right of the image to fill the glass to where you think a standard drink is for this 4% beer.

So, that’s what a standard drink of beer looks like in a glass. If you usually drink beer from a bottle you can check the label to see how many standards are inside. So, that’s what a standard drink of 330ml beer (4%) looks like in a glass.

Drag the slider on the right of the image to fill the glass to where you think a standard drink is for this 13% wine.

Wine is often poured in large glasses, which makes it really easy to over pour and unwittingly end up having more standard drinks than you planned. It’s good to know what 100mls actually looks like in a glass.

What's a standard drink?

A standard drink is how much alcohol the average person can process in one hour. You can’t speed this process up, and your body can only deal with one drink at a time. So, if you have three standard drinks, it will take three hours for your body to process them. The size of a standard drink depends on how strong your beer, wine or spirit is.

When you're pouring a drink yourself you need to remember that the higher the alcohol is, the smaller the size of a standard drink. So, the volume and alcohol percentage of your drink will affect how many standard drinks you’re consuming.

You can also find out how many standard drinks are in a pack or bottle by looking for the standard drinks symbol on the label.
To find out more about standard drinks visit alcohol.org.nz

Shot of 40% vodka

1 standard drink
1 hr to process

330ml bottle of 4% beer

1 standard drink
1 hr to process

100ml glass of 13% wine

1 standard drink
1 hr to process

250ml glass of 13% wine

2.5 standard drinks
2.5 hrs to process

Bottle of 12% wine

7 standard drinks
7 hrs to process

Is my drink standard?

Use this calculator to find out how many drinks are in your glass. Enter the size of your glass or bottle.
Then enter the % of alcohol from the label, and see how many standard drinks you’re actually drinking.
Remember, the average person can only process one standard drink an hour.

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Standard Drinks