US Standard Drink Table
| Beverage | One standard drink = | Typical ABV |
|---|---|---|
| Regular beer | 12 fl oz (355 ml) | ~5% |
| Malt liquor / hard seltzer | 8–10 fl oz (237–296 ml) | ~7% |
| Table wine | 5 fl oz (148 ml) | ~12% |
| Fortified wine (sherry, port) | 3–4 fl oz (89–118 ml) | ~17% |
| Cordial, liqueur, aperitif | 2–3 fl oz (59–89 ml) | ~24% |
| Brandy or cognac (jigger) | 1.5 fl oz (44 ml) | ~40% |
| Distilled spirits (gin, rum, tequila, vodka, whiskey) | 1.5 fl oz (44 ml) shot | ~40% |
One US standard drink is not a glass, a bottle or a pour - it is a quantity of pure alcohol: about 14 grams, or 0.6 fluid ounces. Every row of this table delivers exactly that amount, which is why the serving sizes shrink as the alcohol percentage climbs: 12 ounces of 5 percent beer, 5 ounces of 12 percent wine, and a 1.5-ounce shot of 40 percent spirits all land on the same 14 grams, and so do malt liquor, fortified wine and cordials at their own adjusted sizes.
The definition matters because real pours drift upward: a restaurant wine pour runs 6 to 9 ounces against the 5-ounce standard, craft beer regularly sits at 7-9 percent where a 16-ounce can carries two-plus standard drinks, and home bar shots skew past 1.5 ounces. Counting drinks by vessels rather than by grams is how 'two drinks' quietly becomes four - the table's job is to reset the unit before the math starts.
How to use
- Read the table as a set of equal signs: each row - 12 oz regular beer at about 5%, 8-10 oz of malt liquor or hard seltzer at about 7%, 5 oz of table wine at about 12%, 3-4 oz of fortified wine, 2-3 oz of cordial or liqueur, and 1.5 oz of spirits at 40% - is one standard drink, all carrying the same 14 grams of pure alcohol as defined by NIAAA.
- Re-size any pour with the ABV math: standard drinks equal the volume in ounces times the alcohol percentage times 0.199, the constant that turns the pair into 14-gram units. A 16-ounce can of 7 percent seltzer works out to about 2.2 standard drinks; a 9-ounce wine pour at 13 percent is about 2.3 - the can or glass is not the unit, the alcohol is.
- Connect the count to the limits you are comparing against: the Dietary Guidelines define moderate drinking as up to 2 standard drinks a day for men and 1 for women, and drink-equivalent counting is how traffic laws and health guidance phrase their thresholds - all of them measured in 14-gram units, not in glasses, cans or fingers of whiskey.
Frequently asked questions
What is one standard drink in the United States?
Any drink containing about 14 grams - 0.6 fluid ounces - of pure alcohol. The everyday equivalents from the table: a 12-ounce can of regular beer at 5 percent, an 8-to-10-ounce pour of malt liquor or hard seltzer at 7 percent, a 5-ounce glass of table wine at 12 percent, 3-to-4 ounces of fortified wine like sherry or port, 2-to-3 ounces of cordial or liqueur, or a 1.5-ounce shot of distilled spirits at 40 percent. Different volumes, identical alcohol.
How many standard drinks are in a bottle of wine?
A standard 750-milliliter bottle holds about 25.4 ounces, which is roughly five 5-ounce glasses of 12 percent wine - so five standard drinks per bottle. Sharing a bottle between two people is not 'one drink each'; it is two and a half. The same math warns about craft beer: a 22-ounce bomber of 8 percent ale carries nearly three standard drinks in what looks like one serving.
How many standard drinks are in a 16 oz can of hard seltzer?
Most hard seltzers run 5 percent, where a 16-ounce can is about 1.3 standard drinks - but the 8-percent versions that now dominate shelves put the same can at roughly 2.1. The table's 8-to-10-ounce row for 7 percent malt beverages exists precisely because these drinks hide in beer-sized containers while carrying wine-strength math. Check the ABV on the can, then apply ounces times percent times 0.199.
Why do guidelines count drinks in standard units instead of glasses?
Because vessels vary but chemistry does not: a 'glass' can hold 4 ounces of sherry or 16 ounces of IPA, while a standard drink is always the same 14 grams of alcohol. Health guidance, blood-alcohol estimators and clinical screening tools all phrase thresholds in 14-gram units so the numbers mean the same thing regardless of what was poured - the unit is designed to survive the bartender.
Does 40% spirits mean one shot is always one standard drink?
One 1.5-ounce shot of 40 percent liquor is exactly one standard drink - that is the table's spirits row. But poured drinks rarely match: a doubles pour is 3 ounces (two drinks), a Neat pour at a bar often runs 2 ounces (1.3 drinks), and higher-proof spirits push the math further - 50 percent whiskey in a 1.5-ounce pour is about 1.25 standard drinks. The shot glass assumption is the most common single-unit error in the other direction.
Is a standard drink the same in other countries?
No - the US unit of 14 grams is one of the larger definitions. The UK unit is 8 grams, Australia uses 10 grams, and Canada's newer guidance abandons units for a weekly risk framework. A 'drink' quoted in foreign guidance or on a label is measuring a different amount of pure alcohol, which is why travel-time advice like 'one unit per hour' does not transfer cleanly across borders without converting first.