Bar Literacy · August 2026

Standard drinks in a cocktail

A transparent estimate can describe declared ingredients, but it cannot decide whether a person can drive or how they will feel.

NIAAA defines one U.S. standard drink as 0.6 fluid ounces of pure alcohol. The Evening Measure estimates a declared recipe by multiplying each alcoholic ingredient's volume by its ABV, adding the results, and dividing by 0.6. Water from ice can change concentration but not the pure alcohol listed in the formula.

Example: 2 oz of a 40% ABV spirit contains 0.8 fl oz pure alcohol. 0.8 ÷ 0.6 = 1.33 estimated U.S. standard drinks. This is not a BAC calculator, a time-to-drive tool, or a personal consumption limit.

Compare this approach on the Old Fashioned card and the Martini card. For a night out, arrange the trip home before ordering with a transport-first plan.

A standard drink estimate counts what a menu declares, and it stops there. The same limit applies to food writing: a guide can name a dish, a grape, or a market stall, but it cannot tell a reader how a meal will sit or whether an evening will end well. Eating in Crissier: a field guide to Vaud food describes papet vaudois, Lavaux terraces, and local markets in the western Lausanne area, and it treats each entry as a declared item rather than a promise. Read alongside this page, Vaud food around Crissier shows the same habit: describe the ingredients, then leave the judgment to the person at the table.

Reader note: This page is reviewed against the publication’s source and correction rules. Read the method · suggest a correction