Here's How Much Beer You Have To Drink To Equal A Shot Of Liquor

Everyone's got their own drinking preferences, whether it's sipping on a beer, glass of wine, cocktail, or cutting straight to the chase and slamming shots. But when you're drinking alcohol, it's always a good idea to keep track of just how much of it you've actually consumed, which is why it's good to know just how strong your drinks are in comparison to each other.

Keeping that in mind, just how much beer would you have to drink to equal the amount of alcohol in a shot of liquor? If we're speaking in standardized drink amounts, a 12-ounce beer at 5% alcohol by volume (ABV) and 1.5 ounces of 40% ABV liquor are equivalent to each other in terms of alcohol. But the world of alcoholic beverages is vast, and not every drink fits neatly into those ABV standards. So it's important to know what each category of drinks' potential deviations can be too.

Using standard drink strengths is a good place to start, but just like anything else, it's important to keep track of the finer details. That's because both beer and liquor strengths can vary quite a bit. For example, if you drink two 12-ounce 7.5% ABV beers, that's technically the equivalent amount of alcohol from three 5% ABV 12-ounce beers.

And though 40% alcohol is considered the standard liquor strength for spirits like whiskey, rum, vodka, and tequila, some versions can vary greatly in terms of ABV. For example, if you've ever seen a bottle of whiskey labeled "cask strength," that means you're in for a strong drinking experience — whiskey is typically diluted before it's bottled, but the spirit that's drawn straight from the cask tends to be notably strong. It can be anywhere between 50% to 75% alcohol content. Then, there are other products such as Everclear, which contains a whopping 95% ABV, which can be used not only for DIY flavor extractions for things like homemade bitters, but for cleaning as well.

So for the most part, you can generally equate one 12-ounce can of 5% ABV beer to a shot of liquor, but really, keep an eye on that ABV percentage before you imbibe, because that's the better alcohol yardstick. If you're still eager to read more, be sure to check out which country in the world consumes the most alcohol.