What Is a Standard Drink in Canada? The Number Behind Every Count

A standard drink is a fixed amount of pure alcohol: 17.05 millilitres, which weighs 13.45 grams. The glass changes. The alcohol inside a standard drink does not.

Every judgment you make behind the bar starts with an accurate count. Pacing a table, offering food, slowing service down: all of it rests on knowing how much alcohol you actually served.

The four servings that each hold one standard drink

In Canada, each of these holds one standard drink:

• A bottle of beer (341 ml at 5%)
• A bottle of cider (341 ml at 5%)
• A glass of wine (142 ml at 12%)
• A shot of spirits (43 ml at 40%)

Look at the pattern. The stronger the liquid, the smaller the serving. Beer is weak and arrives in a big bottle. Whisky is strong and arrives in a small shot. Each one delivers the same alcohol to the body.

Alcohol has the same effect no matter which beverage carries it. A guest who "only drinks beer" is not drinking lighter than a guest sipping whisky. Three bottles of beer and three shots of rum put the same alcohol into two bodies.

How to count a pour that is bigger than the standard

Real servings are often bigger than the four above. One calculation counts any pour. Multiply the volume by the alcohol percentage, then compare the result to 17.05 ml.

Try three pours you will actually serve:

• A 500 ml can of craft IPA at 8% holds 40 ml of alcohol. Call it two and a third standard drinks in one can.
• A 9 ounce glass of wine (256 ml at 12%) holds about 31 ml of alcohol, so almost two standard drinks in one glass.
• A double rum and coke (86 ml of rum at 40%) holds about 34 ml of alcohol. That is two standard drinks in one order.

You will not do this math at speed on a Friday night. Do it once for your menu instead. Learn which of your products hide more than one standard drink, and count those guests accordingly.

Ontario's minimum price uses its own serving sizes

Ontario has a second set of serving sizes, and it does a different job. Section 26 of O. Reg. 746/21, the licensing regulation, sets a minimum price for a serving of liquor with taxes included. Spirits over 14.8 per cent alcohol by volume have a floor of $1.34. Every other case has a floor of $2.00.

Those floors attach to a serving of 341 ml of beer, cider or cooler, 29 ml of spirits, 142 ml of wine, or 85 ml of fortified wine. Serve a different size and the minimum price moves in direct proportion to the volume. A 58 ml pour of vodka is two servings under that rule, so its floor is $2.68.

Keep the two ideas apart. The standard drink measures alcohol going into a body. The pricing serving decides how cheap a drink is allowed to be.

Why the count matters

Canada's health guidance draws a line for a single occasion. More than 2 standard drinks in one sitting raises the risk of injuries and violence, for the drinker and for the people around them. A guest with two tall craft cans is not at two drinks. They are close to five.

Some situations call for zero alcohol. The guidance names driving a motor vehicle, using machinery, taking medicine that interacts with alcohol, and being responsible for the safety of others. Keep that list in mind when a guest tells you they are the designated driver.

Your count is also your evidence. When you slow service or refuse a guest, you act on what they consumed, not on how many glasses you remember clearing.

What happens after the pour

Alcohol absorbs into the bloodstream through the mouth, the stomach and the intestines. It needs no digestion, so it starts to act quickly.

Food changes the speed. Proteins and fats slow absorption down, and an empty stomach speeds it up. Fast drinking piles new alcohol on top of alcohol the body has not yet processed. A guest who skipped dinner and orders two quick doubles can change in front of you within half an hour.

Then the liver takes over. Your liver eliminates alcohol, and about 10% of it leaves another way, through urine, sweat and breathing. Everything else keeps circulating until the liver deals with it. A guest who stops ordering has not stopped being affected.

So offer food early, especially to a table ordering rounds quickly. Every plate you land on that table slows the alcohol down.

The trap to expect on the test

The test likes drink equivalence swaps. A question may suggest that a bottle of beer holds less alcohol than a shot of spirits. Both are one standard drink.

A question may also describe an oversized pour, like a tall craft can, and tempt you to count it as one drink because it arrives in one container. Count the alcohol, not the container.

Where to practise the count

The free lesson What counts as one drink works the same math with more examples. From there, how to count drinks as a server turns the count into a shift routine, and the signs of intoxication guide covers what to watch once the count climbs.

To see how these questions read on test day, start with the Smart Serve practice test guide, then work a set on the free practice test.