Units Of Alcohol

So what comprises a unit of alcohol? It's a useful thing to know these days, especially with reference to drinking and driving - although in this case it's simply best never to mix the two. You may want to keep an eye on your weekly intake, which the UK government has (some believe fairly randomly) prescribed as 14 units for women, and 21 for men. There is also a link between quantity and calorie intake, which many may be concerned about from a diet point of view.

The fact is that one unit of alcohol is not very much alcohol at all. Some guidelines:

Half a 175ml glass of wine

Half a pint of 3.5% ABV beer, cider or lager

25ml of spirits

25ml of sherry or vermouth

There is a simple formula for working out units of alcohol which is:

Strength (ABV) x volume (ml) ÷ 1,000 = No. of units

So by this method we can calculate that a 75cl bottle of 13% alcohol is 9.75 units. However it's important to realise that all individuals react in different ways to amounts of alcohol, and that keeping your intake within the bounds of certain calculations doesn't mean you aren't intoxicated.

Calories in alcohol have actually little to do with strength, but may be an interesting addendum to this thread. Again some guidelines - a 175ml glass of the below will have pretty much the following calorie content:

Dry white wine - 116

Medium white wine - 130

Red wine - 119

Rosé - 124

Sparkling - 130

While a 50ml glass of port will contain about 78 calories.