About alcohol

Standard drinks and Guidelines Explained

When it comes to understanding guidelines and putting them into context, a ‘standard drink’ can be useful. Here’s everything you need to know.

A standard drink is a measure of the alcohol in your drinks. It’s the same for beer, wine and spirits, and is expressed as grams of ethanol ⁽¹⁾. In Australia, a standard drink contains 10 grams ⁽²⁾.

The purpose of a standard drink is to provide consistency across beverage types and help translate the science behind drinking and health into something easily understood. This is important for providing drinking guidelines and advice. The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day for both ⁽³⁾

Standard drink sizes are different across countries, but they always ensure the amount of alcohol is the same in any beverage

Infographic explaining how much alcohol is in an Australian standard drink, as well as how many standard drinks are in common drinks beer, wine and spirits

Not all countries use the same standard drink size as Australia ⁽¹⁾. Nevertheless, in each case, the same measure applies whether you’re drinking beer, wine or spirits.

For example:

A standard unit in the UK contains 8 grams of ethanol
In Australia and France, the standard is 10 grams
A Mexican standard drink contains 13 grams
There are 14 grams of ethanol in a standard drink in the US, Argentina and Chile

Standard drinks can help you understand drinking guidelines

Infographic explaining what 1 alcohol unit is equal to in terms of beer, wine and spirits

It’s true that a unit doesn’t always translate into how drinks are actually served. For example, many cocktails contain several different spirits or are mixed with wine or champagne, so they’ll most likely contain more alcohol than in a standard unit. Also, since wine comes in different strengths, and glasses are available in different sizes, the amount of alcohol you drink may not be standard. This is especially true if you’re at home and top up your glass before you’re finished.

However, a standard drink is still a useful concept. Since the concentrations of drinks are different, a Standard drink ensures that the amount of ethanol in a serving is always the same. This is important for sharing information about drinking and its effects on your health.

Using a standard drink allows for guidance on levels of drinking, regardless of whether the drinks are spirits, wine or beer. Plus, advice is generally given in terms of the number of units it’s best not to exceed in a day or a week, or on an occasion.