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Drink size calculator

If you want to pace yourself and stay within low-risk drinking levels, it's helpful to know the "standard drink" size for different alcohol beverages you may drink. It's also useful to know the number of drinks in different sized containers.

Alcohol beverage labels do not provide this information, so we have included examples in What's a standard drink?, How many drinks are in common containers?, and in the drop-down menu, below. The menu also includes examples for light beer, ice beer, and other beverages not listed elsewhere on this site.

The examples in the drop-down menu serve only as a starting point for comparison. The alcohol content of different beverages can vary widely. If you're curious about a specific beverage and willing to do a little homework, this calculator can customize results for you. For mixed drinks with two or more ingredients, use the cocktail content calculator.

To use this calculator for a drink that's not in the examples, start by entering its alcohol content. For all distilled spirits and most wine, the container label lists the percent "alcohol by volume" or alc/vol. If the alcohol content is not on the label, as is true for many beer and malt liquor brands, then search online for a reliable source of information, such as the beverage bottler. Then enter a container size to find the number of standard drinks it holds.


(The content of different types of beer, other malt beverages, and wine may vary.)

What's the
alcohol content
of the
beverage?
(convert proof to alc/vol)

U.S. standard
drink size
(containing 14g "pure" alcohol)

 What's the
container size?
(convert to fl. oz.
if needed)

Number of
U.S. standard
drinks per
container

% alc/vol fl. oz fl. oz

Disclaimer

A standard drink size may not reflect customary serving sizes. This calculator is for educational purposes only, to show how the standard drink size and the number of standard drinks per container varies depending on the alcohol content (% alc/vol) of different beverages and the container size. Any differences between the data you enter in the calculator and the actual amount in a drink or container could significantly affect the accuracy of the estimates. Because of this and individual variations in alcohol sensitivity and metabolism, the calculator should not be relied upon to predict blood alcohol level or any other measure. Do not drink if you are under the legal age (21 in the United States) and do not drive or engage in other potentially dangerous activities after drinking.

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