The Standard Drinks measure is a simple way to work out how much alcohol you are drinking. It measures the amount of pure alcohol in a drink. One standard drink equals 10 grams of pure alcohol.

Download  The Straight-up Guide to Standard Drinks (PDF 163k) which includes all the information below.

Guide to Standard Drinks

If you drink a 330ml can of beer or a 100ml glass of table wine or a 30ml of distilled spirits  (such as rum and coke; or rye and 7up) you are drinking approximately 10 grams of alcohol, depending on the alcohol percentage (see table below).

All alcohol containers in New Zealand now have a Standard Drinks content on the label. This is a good solution to adopt widely. It helps people know and calculate their limits so excessive drinking is not done unknowingly. In a democracy each person has a right to consume as much as they choose privately, usually in their home. Legislations create limits to activities and consumption in public. If common sense and responsibility fails to prevail over dangerous behavior, risking lives (yours and/or others) and possible harm others may step in. It is up to communities to set standards if acceptable levels are not set by provincial/state authorities.

30ml straight spirits:
	=

330ml can of beer:
	=

100ml glass of table wine:
	=

330ml can of beer @ 4% alcohol	440ml can of beer @ 4.2% alcohol	330ml bottle of beer @ 5% alcohol	330ml bottle of lite beer @ 2.5% alcohol
750ml bottle of beer @ 4% alcohol	750ml bottle of wine @ 13% alcohol	750ml bottle of sparkling wine @ 12%alcohol	750ml bottle of wine @ 14% alcohol
3 litre cask of wine @ 12.5% alcohol	275ml bottle of RTD (ready to drink)spirits @ 5% alcohol	335ml bottle of RTD spirits @ 8% alcohol	375ml bottle of spirits @ 37.5% alcohol
500ml bottle of spirits @ 37.5% alcohol	700ml bottle of spirits @ 40% alcohol	1000ml bottle of spirits @ 47% alcohol	1125ml bottle of spirits @ 45% alcohol

It is important to keep track of how much you and your family are drinking and to know just how much alcohol is in a drink. Find out more about how much is too much.

If you would like to work out the amount of Standard Drinks yourself the New Zealand Food Safety Authority web site has the calculations you can use (about half way down the page).