Glossary · Law and labelling
Standard drink
Definition
A national reference quantity of alcohol used in health guidance. It is not internationally consistent: a United States standard drink contains 14 grams of ethanol against the United Kingdom unit’s 8.
- Subject
- Law and labelling
In more detail
The difference makes drinking guidance non-transferable between countries without conversion, and makes comparisons of national guidelines expressed in "drinks" meaningless unless the gram figure is stated.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Law and labelling
Unit of alcohol
The United Kingdom measure of alcohol consumed: one unit is 10 ml, or 8 grams, of pure ethanol. Units are calculated as volume in litres multiplied by ABV.
Law and labelling
Alcohol by volume
The proportion of a drink’s volume that is pure ethanol at 20 degrees Celsius, expressed as a percentage. It is the figure labelling law requires on drinks above 1.2 per cent.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
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Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans — alcohol
US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services · health authority · registered as competent for this subject
Registered so CiderHQ can state that a US standard drink is 14 g of pure alcohol against the UK unit’s 8 g — a difference that makes cross-country drinking advice non-transferable.
NHS · health authority · passage verified 2026-08-24
The definition CiderHQ’s units calculator implements, read against the page rather than assumed: one UK unit is 10 ml or 8 g of pure ethanol, and units are ABV multiplied by volume in millilitres divided by a thousand — which is exactly the arithmetic in `engine/calculators.ts`.