How Many Units of Alcohol Are in Beer?

Almost every beer drinker in the UK will have heard people talk about units of alcohol, but how many people know how many units are in a pint? How many people can say they truly understand how their alcohol consumption stacks up over a week or month?

In the UK, people's understanding around alcohol has historically been very poor. It's a shocking stat, but in 2010, a study found that only one in 10 people in the UK knew how to calculate units of alcohol and many people were simply unaware that they were consuming a dangerous amount of alcohol.

In recent years, the nation’s understanding has improved, as the government has put a bigger focus on helping people reduce the risks that come from drinking alcohol. Within this article, we will explore this topic further and seek to understand how many units of alcohol are in a pint of beer.

Of course, units aren’t everything, but it’s certainly healthy to know how much alcohol you are consuming to enjoy a balanced lifestyle.

A unit is a metric that calculates the amount of pure alcohol in a drink. In the UK, one unit of is equal to 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol. It's a little different in the US, where they deal with "standard" drinks that contain around 14 grams of alcohol.

The reason that a single unit of alcohol is equal to 10ml in the UK is because it's the amount of alcohol that the average adult can process in an hour. After the hour is up, there should be little to no alcohol left in their bloodstream.

If you want to work out how many units of alcohol are in beer, you can calculate it like this:

Units of alcohol = (ABV X volume in ml) ÷ 1,000

For example, if you wanted to calculate the number of units of alcohol in a bottle of beer, you’d look at the label to find out its overall volume as well as its alcohol content. A typical calculation might look something like this:

4.5% ABV X 330 ml ÷ 1,000 = 1.5 units

To help people understand and reduce the risks that come from drinking alcohol, the government published a comprehensive review around alcohol consumption in 2016, which was known as the Alcohol Guidelines Review.

Although not exactly bedtime reading, the recommendations - which we have summarised below - are useful to know:

• Men and women should avoid drinking more than 14 units of alcohol per week (previously men were told to stick to 21 units or less)
• Alcohol consumption should be evenly spread across a week with no more than 5 units consumed in one session
• Moderate or heavy drinkers should have “several drink-free days each week” to cut down on alcohol consumption

While the UK government recommends keeping your alcohol consumption below 14 units a week, guidelines vary a lot in other countries. In Spain, for example, the limit is almost more than double, as men may consume 33 units of alcohol in a week. The limit - at least for men - is also higher in other countries, including the US, Ireland, Denmark and New Zealand.

Further Reading: How Many Calories Are in Beer?

A pint of standard-strength lager or ale with a 4.5% ABV contains 2.5 units of alcohol.

However, not every beer is made equal and figuring out the number of units in a serving of beer depends on two factors:

• The alcoholic content, which is measured by alcohol by volume (ABV)
• The total volume of liquid you are consuming in millilitres

Next time you’re at a pub or enjoying a beer at home, the following tables can help you quickly estimate how many units of alcohol are in a beer.

Looking at these tables, you can see that it's quite easy to reach the government’s recommended limits for weekly alcohol consumption if you're drinking full-strength beer a couple of nights a week.

If you were to drink five pints of 5% ABV beer over an evening, you would actually consume more alcohol than is advisable in an entire week.

Further Reading: How Does Alcohol Affect Your Mental Health?

At Small Beer, all of our mid-strength beers are brewed below 2.8% ABV, which means that a can of Small Beer contains less than one unit of alcohol.

Browse our world-class range of award-winning beers and enjoy all the fun and flavour, without putting your health at risk.