Standard Drinks
Knowing standard drink measurements helps you track patron consumption accurately. This topic covers standard serving sizes for beer (341 ml), wine (142 ml), and spirits (43 ml), ABV calculations, metabolism rates, and why understanding drink equivalents matters for responsible service.
Study Guide: Standard Drinks
Review these sample questions before starting the practice test.
Q1: How many millilitres is a standard serving of beer (5% ABV) in Canada?
- A. 341 ml (12 oz) ✓
- B. 568 ml
- C. 500 ml
- D. 250 ml
A standard serving of beer in Canada is 341 ml (12 oz) at 5% alcohol by volume. This equals one standard drink.
Q2: How many millilitres is a standard serving of wine (12% ABV)?
- A. 250 ml
- B. 142 ml (5 oz) ✓
- C. 200 ml
- D. 100 ml
A standard serving of wine is 142 ml (5 oz) at 12% alcohol by volume. This is equivalent to one standard drink.
Q3: How many millilitres is a standard serving of spirits (40% ABV)?
- A. 30 ml
- B. 60 ml
- C. 90 ml
- D. 43 ml (1.5 oz) ✓
A standard serving of spirits is 43 ml (1.5 oz) at 40% alcohol by volume. This is equivalent to one standard drink.
Q4: All standard drinks contain approximately the same amount of:
- A. Carbonation
- B. Sugar
- C. Calories
- D. Pure alcohol (about 13.45 grams / 17.05 mL) ✓
In Canada, a standard drink is defined as 17.05 mL or 13.45 grams of pure alcohol, regardless of the type of beverage: 341 mL (12 oz) of 5% beer or cider, 142 mL (5 oz) of 12% wine, or 43 mL (1.5 oz) of 40% spirits. This is the key principle of standard drink measurements, and it is why servers count drinks rather than glasses. Source: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health, https://www.ccsa.ca/sites/default/files/2023-01/CCSA_Canadas_Guidance_on_Alcohol_and_Health_Final_Report_en.pdf
Q5: How many standard drinks are in a 750 ml bottle of wine (12% ABV)?
- A. About 10
- B. About 7
- C. About 3
- D. About 5 ✓
750 ml divided by 142 ml per standard serving equals approximately 5.3 standard drinks in a typical bottle of wine.
Q6: A "tall" cocktail with two shots of spirits equals how many standard drinks?
- A. Half
- B. One
- C. Three
- D. Two ✓
Each standard shot (43 ml / 1.5 oz) of spirits equals one standard drink. A cocktail with two shots equals two standard drinks.
Q7: Why is it important for servers to understand standard drink sizes?
- A. To impress customers with knowledge
- B. To pour exact amounts for cost control
- C. It is not important for servers
- D. To accurately track how much alcohol a patron has consumed ✓
Understanding standard drink sizes allows servers to track total alcohol consumption and make informed decisions about when to slow or stop service.
Q8: How long does it take the average body to metabolize one standard drink?
- A. 30 minutes
- B. 15 minutes
- C. About 1 hour ✓
- D. 2 hours
The average body metabolizes approximately one standard drink per hour. Nothing can speed this up — not coffee, food, or cold showers.
Ready to practice all 42 questions? Start the interactive quiz below.
How many millilitres is a standard serving of beer (5% ABV) in Canada?
More Standard Drinks Questions
Ten more worked examples with answers and explanations.
Q9: What is ABV?
- A. Alcohol Beverage Volume
- B. Average Beer Value
- C. Alcohol By Volume ✓
- D. Alcohol Bottled Volume
ABV stands for Alcohol By Volume — a standard measure of the percentage of pure alcohol in a beverage. A 5% ABV beer contains 5% pure alcohol.
Q10: A craft beer at 8% ABV served in a pint (473 ml) contains approximately how many standard drinks?
- A. About 2.2 ✓
- B. One
- C. About 0.5
- D. About 3
A standard drink is 341 ml at 5% ABV. A 473 ml pint at 8% ABV contains: (473 x 8) / (341 x 5) = about 2.2 standard drinks.
Q11: Which drink typically has the MOST alcohol per serving as commonly served?
- A. A glass of wine
- B. A Long Island Iced Tea (contains multiple spirits) ✓
- C. A pint of regular beer
- D. A single shot of vodka
A Long Island Iced Tea typically contains multiple spirits (vodka, rum, tequila, gin, triple sec), making it equivalent to about 3-4 standard drinks in a single glass.
Q12: Can coffee, food, or a cold shower speed up alcohol metabolism?
- A. Yes, food absorbs the alcohol
- B. Yes, coffee helps sober people up
- C. Yes, cold showers shock the system
- D. No, only time reduces blood alcohol concentration ✓
Nothing can speed up the body's metabolism of alcohol. Only time reduces blood alcohol concentration. Coffee may make a person feel more alert but they remain intoxicated.
Q13: A patron has consumed 4 standard drinks in 2 hours. Approximately how many drinks has their body metabolized?
- A. 2 drinks ✓
- B. 0 drinks
- C. 3 drinks
- D. 4 drinks
At one standard drink per hour, the body would have metabolized approximately 2 drinks in 2 hours, leaving 2 unmetabolized drinks worth of alcohol in the system.
Q14: What does "proof" mean in relation to alcohol content?
- A. It indicates how the alcohol was distilled
- B. It is the same as ABV
- C. It measures the quality of the alcohol
- D. Proof is roughly double the ABV percentage ✓
Proof is roughly double the ABV percentage. For example, 80-proof spirits are approximately 40% ABV. This system originated from a historical test using gunpowder.
Q15: Why might a patron become intoxicated faster from drinking shots compared to sipping beer?
- A. Shots contain more calories
- B. Beer has more alcohol than shots
- C. Shots deliver a higher concentration of alcohol in a shorter time ✓
- D. The colour of the drink matters
Shots deliver concentrated alcohol quickly. While a shot and a beer may contain similar total alcohol, the shot's rapid delivery causes a faster spike in blood alcohol.
Q16: An "oversize" wine glass holding 250 ml of wine at 12% ABV is equivalent to how many standard drinks?
- A. About 2.5
- B. About 1.8 ✓
- C. 3
- D. 1
250 ml / 142 ml per standard serving = approximately 1.76 or about 1.8 standard drinks. Oversize glasses can mislead patrons about their actual consumption.
Q17: A patron asks for a "double" shot of spirits. How many standard drinks is this?
- A. 1
- B. 2 ✓
- C. 1.5
- D. 3
A double shot is 86 ml (3 oz) of spirits at 40% ABV, which equals 2 standard drinks. Servers should track this as two drinks in their monitoring.
Q18: What is one standard drink of spirits (hard liquor)?
- A. 1 oz (30 mL)
- B. 1.5 oz (43 mL) of 40% ABV spirits ✓
- C. 3 oz (90 mL)
- D. 2 oz (60 mL)
One standard drink of spirits is 1.5 oz (43 mL) at 40% alcohol by volume.
Key facts for this topic
- In Canada a standard drink is 17.05 mL or 13.45 g of pure alcohol: a 341 mL (12 oz) bottle of 5% beer or cider, a 142 mL (5 oz) glass of 12% wine, or a 43 mL (1.5 oz) shot of 40% spirits. Source
- Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health (2023) describes 2 standard drinks or fewer per week as low risk, 3 to 6 as moderate risk, and 7 or more as increasingly high risk. Source
- For drivers, Ontario’s warn range starts at a BAC of 0.05, and drivers aged 21 or under and novice drivers must have zero alcohol in their system. Source
Common mistakes
The classic mistake is counting glasses instead of standard drinks. A 473 mL pint of 8% craft beer is about 2.2 standard drinks, a 250 mL "large" glass of wine is about 1.8, and a double or a multi-spirit cocktail such as a Long Island Iced Tea is two or more. A second mistake is believing anything except time sobers a person up. Coffee, food and cold showers do not speed up metabolism; the body clears roughly one standard drink per hour on average. When a question gives a volume and an ABV, compare it with the 341 mL at 5% benchmark rather than guessing.
Keep studying
Sources
Regulatory facts on this page are based on the official sources below. If anything here disagrees with them, the official source wins.
- Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA): Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health, Final Report (2023)
- Government of Ontario: Impaired driving
By SmartServe Prep Team Last reviewed: October 2026
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