Frosty, fruity, and available in big, thirst quenching summer sizes – summer cocktails are one of those rites of the season that people look forward to when sitting on a beach, out on their deck, or just in the backyard with friends. Before you sit down and sip your favorite summer cocktail, you might want to run an online check on how much alcohol is in it using the U.S. National Institutes of Health online alcohol checker.
Most people know the alcohol content of a standard drink – a 12 ounce can of beer contains 5% alcohol, a 5 ounce glass of wine contains 12% alcohol, and a 1.5 ounce shot of hard alcohol like brandy contains 40% alcohol – but summer drinks are mixed with different ingredients than the standard drink, and the odds are you’ll be drinking a lot more alcohol than you may realize.
Take a margarita for example – if mixed according to a bartender’s recipe, you’ll be consuming 1.5 ounces of tequila and1 ounce of flavored liqueur. A Pina Colada has 3 ounces of rum, which is double the standard hard alcohol drink.
Keep these tips in mind when drinking summer cocktails:
- If it’s hot outside, stick to one standard drink per hour. If you drink more you could risk dehydration.
- According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, women should drink no more than 7 drinks per week and no more than 3 drinks on any given day. Men should not drink more than 14 drinks per week and no more than 4 drinks per day.
- Women have different reactions to alcohol than men and don’t metabolize alcohol as quickly as men do, so it will take less alcohol for a women to become drunk than a man.
Knowing how much alcohol is in your summer cocktail means you have a better idea of how intoxicated you’ll be when you’ve finished it. Just like if you were drinking standard drinks, the safest option after a summer cocktail is to appoint a designated driver and never drink and drive.
