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What is a standard drink?
A Canadian "standard drink" is a fixed quantity or unit of alcohol. This measure allows those of us who drink alcohol to recognize the actual amount present within beverages of different kinds, concentration and size. Knowing how many standard drinks one has had can help a person decide when it’s best to stop. Low-risk guidance suggests appropriate limits in number of standard drinks per week and on any occasion.
What counts as a standard drink in different beverage categories?
A Canadian standard drink equals the amount of alcohol present in a typical retail container of regular strength beer, our country's most popular alcohol drink. It also applies to the same volume of alcohol present in other main beverage types – wine and spirits.
Containers in the marketplace vary in size. Labels on these options in type and amount do not yet specify the number of standard drinks present. Thankfully, consumers can learn to estimate accurately enough standard drink amounts in various beverage products and servings. Larger volumes or higher concentrations of alcohol will increase the number of standard drinks present; smaller volumes or lower concentrations will decrease that number.
Learning to count drinks?
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18 oz glass of regular beer (5% alcohol) = 1.5 standard drinks
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bottle of light beer (3.7% alcohol) = 0.7 standard drink
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can of extra strength beer (8%) = 1.7 standard drinks
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a 750 ml bottle of wine (12% alcohol) = 5.3 standard drinks
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9 oz glass of wine (14% alcohol) = 2.1 standard drinks
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2 oz shot of spirits (40% alcohol) = 1.3 standard drinks
For assistance in converting your drinks into standard drink amounts, go to aodtool.cfar.uvic.ca/index-stddt.html
For interactive online practice in pouring a standard drink, go to www.educalcool.qc.ca/en/tools/standard-drink-server/
A Canadian standard drink is 17.05 ml or 13.45 g of pure alcohol
Each of the following are 1 standard drink:
Beer: 341 ml/12 oz at 5% alcohol
Wine: 142 ml/5 oz at 12% alcohol
Spirits: 43 ml/1.5 oz at 40% alcohol
About the author
The Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research is a member of the BC Partners for Mental Health and Substance Use Information. The institute is dedicated to the study of substance use in support of community-wide efforts aimed at providing all people with access to healthier lives, whether using substances or not. For more, visit www.cisur.ca.
