Going for a drink is one of the biggest social activities in Australia.
However, it’s easy for a drink to turn into three or four or five, and it can quickly get out of hand. Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) is an important part of ensuring that ‘going for a drink’, doesn’t turn into ‘getting your stomach pumped’ or worse.
One of the key concepts of RSA is the idea of a standard drink.
What is a standard drink?
A standard drink is a drink that has 10 grams of alcohol, regardless of the container it’s poured into or the type of alcohol it is. This means that a drink can be in a can, bottle, or glass, and it would still qualify as a standard drink.
Any alcohol that measures 10 grams when served in any given container is a standard drink. It's a measure of the alcohol itself, not how much liquid is in the glass. That distinction matters more than most people realise. A small glass of red wine and a large glass of light beer can look nothing alike but contain a similar amount of alcohol, while two drinks of the same size can be worlds apart depending on their strength.
Why alcohol percentage matters (ABV)?
Every alcoholic product in Australia has its alcohol by volume (ABV) printed on the label. This is the percentage of the drink that's pure alcohol. A full-strength beer sits around 4.8%, a light beer around 2.7%, most wines between 11% and 14%, and spirits at 37% or higher. That percentage is what turns a serving size into a number of standard drinks.
A 200 ml glass of light beer and a 200 ml glass of full-strength beer are the same pour, but the full-strength one carries almost twice the alcohol. Change the strength and you change the standard drinks, even when the glass looks identical.
If you want to work it out yourself, the formula is:
Volume (litres) × ABV (%) × 0.789 = number of standard drinks
The 0.789 is the density of ethanol. So a 375ml can of full-strength beer at 4.8% works out to 0.375 × 4.8 × 0.789 = 1.4 standard drinks.
Every container sold in Australia is required to state its standard drinks on the label.
Standard drinks in common Australian servings
Here is a guide to the number of standard drinks per common beverages.
Beer
Serving
|
Light (2.7%)
|
Mid (3.5%)
|
Full strength (4.8%)
|
Pot / middy (285ml)
|
0.6
|
0.8
|
1.1
|
Schooner (425ml)
|
0.9
|
1.2
|
1.6
|
Pint (570ml)
|
1.2
|
1.6
|
2.2
|
Stubby / can (375ml)
|
0.8
|
1.0
|
1.4
|
Jug (1140ml)
|
2.4
|
3.1
|
4.3
|
Wine
Serving
|
Standard drinks
|
Small glass of white (100ml, 11.5%)
|
0.9
|
Restaurant glass of white (150ml, 11.5%)
|
1.4
|
Restaurant glass of red (150ml, 13.5%)
|
1.6
|
Large glass of red (250ml, 13.5%)
|
2.7
|
Sparkling (150ml, 11.5%)
|
1.4
|
Bottle of wine (750ml, 13%)
|
7.7
|
Fortified wine, e.g. port (60ml, 17.5%)
|
0.8
|
Spirits and other drinks
Serving
|
Standard drinks
|
Nip of spirits (30ml, 40%)
|
1.0
|
Pre-mixed spirits, full strength (375ml, 5%)
|
1.5
|
Pre-mixed spirits, high strength (375ml, 7%)
|
2.1
|
Cider (375ml, 4.5%)
|
1.3
|
Cocktail with two nips
|
2.0+
|
Why this matters for RSA?
Responsible service depends on knowing how much alcohol a customer has actually consumed and you can't do that by counting glasses. Three schooners of full-strength beer is close to five standard drinks. A shared jug and a couple of glasses of red is more again. If you're tracking rounds rather than alcohol, you'll consistently underestimate where someone is at, and by the time the signs of intoxication are obvious you've already served more than you should have.
Standard drinks give you a common unit for that judgement. They let you pace service, decide when to slow someone down, and recognise that the customer nursing a single large glass of shiraz may be further along than the one on their second light beer.
And it's a legal obligation, not just good practice. Serving a customer to the point of intoxication puts you, your licensee and your venue at risk. Understanding standard drinks is how you make defensible decisions about when to serve, when to slow down, and when to stop.
Ready to book your RSA? Select your State or Territory's RSA.
