Know your units

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UK government guidelines state that men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. How much you drink may surprise you, and remember that even a small % alcohol difference on a bottle of wine can add up. Take a look at our quick guide to help you calculate, and find some alcohol-free drinks recipes on this page.

As a rule of thumb, 14 units is equivalent to 6 pints of average-strength beer or 10 small glasses of lower-strength wine. Craft beers and ciders can have very different amounts of alcohol, so it does pay to peer closely at the label.

Here’s some other approximate examples to help you gauge:

0.5 UNIT

25ml Schnapps, Malibu

1 UNIT

25ml single measure of spirits (e.g. whisky, gin, vodka, rum, brandy, tequila, Pernod, Cognac, Drambuie, Grand Marnier)
50ml sweet, medium, or dry sherry (e.g. Croft, Harveys Bristol Cream)
50ml Port
50ml Cinzano, Dubonnet, advocaat, Martini
50ml Baileys, Kahlua
50ml Tia Maria, amaretto

1.5 UNITS

35ml large single measure of spirits
50ml Pimm’s
125ml champagne
125ml small glass of wine (12% ABV)
275ml bottle of alcopop (e.g. Smirnoff Ice, Wkd, Barcardi Breezer, Reef)

2 UNITS

175ml standard glass of wine (12% ABV)
1 pint (568ml) ordinary strength lager, beer, bitter, ale, or cider (e.g. Boddingtons, Tetley’s, Carling, Carlsberg, Foster’s Woodpecker)

2.5 UNITS

1 pint (568ml) Guinness, Caffreys, Magners

3 UNITS

250ml large glass of wine (12% ABV)
1 pint (568ml) strong lager or cider, for example Stella Artois, Budweiser, Heineken, Grolsch, Dry Blackthorn, Strongbow

3.5 UNITS

1 pint (568ml) Scrumpy Jack

Want to calculate your alcohol intake?

You can do this in lots of ways, from good old pen and paper, but it might be more accurate to use an app like drinkaware where you can log drink-free days, enter how much alcohol you’ve consumed by drink type and set weekly goals.

N.B. This should not be used as a guide to calculate alcohol units for driving. If you’re planning to drive, remain teetotal.