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The countdown to summer break has begun, leaving students and families eager to get away from school and work in order to have some fun. These long hot days and warm nights bring some of the best memories each year. Admittedly, alcohol has a big part in that because it allows everyone to relax and loosen up. Moreover, if there is no work, school, or another obligation to attend to the next morning, the alcohol will keep flowing. With that being said, the alcohol consumption should only go so far. Each individual should know when to say no to a drink.
The legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit in California is 0.08%. It does not take the same amount of drinks for everyone to reach that level. How much alcohol has an effect on someone depends on a large number of factors. Person A can have 3 drinks, be at 0.04%, and feel extremely drunk. Meanwhile Person B can have 5 drinks, be at 0.07% and still be much more coherent and aware than Person A.
BAC can depend on gender, body weight and build, the number of drinks consumed, the types of drinks consumed, whether or not a person has eaten, any medications they might be taking, and more. Generally, women feel the effects of alcohol much faster than men, and smaller body types will feel the effects faster than bigger body types will. If a person has food in their stomach, that will help soak up some alcohol. Conversely, if they are drinking on an empty stomach, they will get drunk faster.
When it comes to determining what 1 serving of alcohol means, it depends on the type of drink you want to look at. As a general rule, 1 serving of alcohol equals 1 oz. of 100 proof liquor, a 12 oz. beer, or 4 oz. wine. So if you sit down at the dinner table and you have a glass a wine, how much alcohol is that? How many ounces of wine are a serving? That tends to be the thing that most people ask when having wine or beer. These are the 2 types of alcohol that are usually had on a regular basis. They are can be daily indulgences.
When it comes to a serving of wine, you are looking at about 5 ounces. 5 ounces is roughly the size of one of those bottles of spices in your kitchen. Depending on the size of your glass, this serving can look pretty small when you pour it.
When looking at beer, things can get a little tricky. This is due to the increase in popularity of micro brews. With micro brews, you have drinks that have far larger alcohol contents. This is why you can have such a large difference in alcohol content between a light beer and a stout. When you look at a light beer, you have a serving size that is roughly 16 ounces, which can me a bit much for one serving. This is especially true since most bottles are 12 ounce bottles. When it comes to something in the stout range, the serving size is actually around 10 ounces. So when you go to a bar and get a 16 ounce pint, you are getting way more than a single serving. You can avoid this by asking for a glass instead of a pint when you go to the bar. This way, you can get a smaller, more realistic, serving.
When you are looking at hard liquor, things can get a little bit tricky since they can different alcohol contents. Here, you are looking at the difference between a grain alcohol and a potato alcohol like vodka, which is roughly between 80 and 100 proof. With this kind of alcohol, the average serving size will be around an ounce.
With shots, things can vary drastically due to a number of different variables. It depend on things like the bar you are at and the shot glass you are using. A shot should be an around an ounce, which is pretty small. So most of the time when you go to a bar and get a drink, you usually get a double shot.