Drink count reference
BAC by Number of Drinks: How Many Is Too Many?
How your BAC changes with each drink - by weight, sex, and drinking speed - with legal driving limits shown for your country.
Impairment begins
1-2 drinks
For most adults at average weight
Legal limit (0.08%)
~3-5 drinks
Depends on weight, sex, speed
One drink per hour rule
Roughly safe
Only if you started sober and drink slowly
Reference only
Reference only. These estimates are educational and cannot prove whether you are safe or legally clear to drive.
Personalise the tables below
Change sex, weight, or country and the drinks table, reverse lookup, and pace chart update automatically.
Sex
Tables update automatically below.
Core table
Your BAC After Each Drink
The table recalculates with your selected weight, sex, country limit, and drinking pace. Click any row for a fuller effect and sober-up estimate.
| Drinks | Time Elapsed | Est. BAC | Legal Status | How You May Feel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 drink | 20 min | 0.03% | Under limit | Subtle mood lift with minor test changes. |
Subclinical Subtle mood lift with minor test changes. Driving risk: Low, not zero. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit Already below | ||||
| 2 drinks | 40 min | 0.05% | Under limit | Relaxation, attention begins to weaken. |
Euphoria Relaxation, attention begins to weaken. Driving risk: Caution advised. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit Already below | ||||
| 3 drinks | 1h 00m | 0.06% | Under limit | Relaxation, attention begins to weaken. |
Euphoria Relaxation, attention begins to weaken. Driving risk: Caution advised. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit Already below | ||||
| 4 drinks | 1h 20m | 0.08% | At limit | Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. |
Excitement Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. Driving risk: Often illegal. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit Already below | ||||
| 5 drinks | 1h 40m | 0.08% | At limit | Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. |
Excitement Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. Driving risk: Often illegal. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit 8m | ||||
| 6 drinks | 2h 00m | 0.08% | At limit | Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. |
Excitement Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. Driving risk: Often illegal. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit 12m | ||||
| 7 drinks | 2h 20m | 0.08% | At limit | Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. |
Excitement Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. Driving risk: Often illegal. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit 12m | ||||
| 8 drinks | 2h 40m | 0.08% | At limit | Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. |
Excitement Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. Driving risk: Often illegal. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit 12m | ||||
| 9 drinks | 3h 00m | 0.08% | At limit | Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. |
Excitement Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. Driving risk: Often illegal. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit 12m | ||||
| 10 drinks | 3h 20m | 0.08% | At limit | Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. |
Excitement Balance, speech, vision and reaction time affected. Driving risk: Often illegal. Legal context: United States standard adult-driver limit is 0.08% in most states. Local novice, commercial, and under-age limits can be stricter. Time to below limit 12m | ||||
BAC values are calculated using the Widmark formula with your selected weight and sex. "Drinking fast" assumes one drink every 20 minutes; "drinking slowly" assumes one drink per hour, allowing partial elimination between drinks.
Reverse lookup
How Many Drinks to Reach Each Level?
The table below flips the question: given your weight and sex, how many drinks does it take to cross each meaningful threshold?
| Threshold | What It Means | Drinks Needed (fast) | Drinks Needed (slow) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.02% | Measurable impairment begins | ~1 drink | ~1 drink |
| 0.05% | Over limit in Australia / EU | ~3 drinks | Not reached within 10 drinks |
| 0.08% | Over limit in US / UK / Canada | ~5 drinks | Not reached within 10 drinks |
| 0.10% | Clearly drunk, illegal everywhere | Not reached within 10 drinks | Not reached within 10 drinks |
| 0.15% | Severely impaired | Not reached within 10 drinks | Not reached within 10 drinks |
| 0.20% | Confusion / blackout risk | Not reached within 10 drinks | Not reached within 10 drinks |
Values update from the personalisation bar above. If a threshold is not reached within 10 standard drinks, the table shows that explicitly.
The one drink per hour rule
You may have heard that one drink per hour keeps you sober. This is roughly true only if: (1) you started completely sober, (2) you are average or above-average weight, and (3) "one drink" means a standard drink, not a pint of strong beer or a large glass of wine. For a lighter person, even one drink per hour can produce a rising BAC over a long evening.
Section 1
What Counts as "One Drink"?
The tables above use the US standard drink definition: one drink equals 14 grams of pure alcohol. This is the amount in a 12 oz regular beer at 5% ABV, a 5 oz glass of wine at 12% ABV, or a 1.5 oz shot of 40% spirits. If your actual drinks are larger, stronger, or both, your real BAC will be higher than the tables show.
Many common drinks contain more than one standard drink. A pint of strong craft beer, a large restaurant wine pour, or a generous cocktail can each count as 1.5 to 2.5 standard drinks. This is one of the most common reasons people are surprised by their BAC: they counted three drinks but actually consumed the equivalent of five or six standard drinks.
Regular beer
12 oz / 355ml
ABV
5%
Std drinks
1.0
Pint of 5% lager
16 oz / 473ml
ABV
5%
Std drinks
1.3
Strong IPA
16 oz / 473ml
ABV
7%
Std drinks
1.9
Standard wine glass
5 oz / 148ml
ABV
12%
Std drinks
1.0
Large wine glass
8 oz / 237ml
ABV
13%
Std drinks
2.1
Single spirit shot
1.5 oz / 44ml
ABV
40%
Std drinks
1.0
Double spirit shot
3 oz / 88ml
ABV
40%
Std drinks
2.0
Margarita (typical)
4 oz / 118ml
ABV
~25%
Std drinks
1.7
Long Island Iced Tea
8 oz / 237ml
ABV
~22%
Std drinks
3.0+
Not sure how many standard drinks your drink contains? Use the drink standard units calculator to calculate any drink by volume and ABV.
Section 2
Why Drinking Speed Changes Everything
BAC is not just about how much you drink - it is about the race between absorption and elimination. Your liver eliminates alcohol at approximately 0.015% BAC per hour, continuously. See how BAC works for the formula background. If you drink slowly enough that elimination keeps pace with absorption, your BAC stays lower. If you drink faster than your liver can clear it, BAC accumulates.
For a 160 lb man, one standard drink raises BAC by approximately 0.025% before elimination. At one drink per hour, the liver clears roughly 0.015% per hour, meaning the net rise is much smaller. At one drink every 20 minutes, the same person adds alcohol three times faster than the liver can clear it.
The slow-drinking scenario can show a plateau effect: BAC stops rising sharply because elimination is nearly keeping pace with intake. This is not safety. A BAC near 0.07-0.08% is still legally and physically impaired. For detection windows after drinking ends, see how long does alcohol stay.
Drinking speed matters
BAC vs Time: Fast Drinking vs Slow Drinking
The same 10 drinks can land very differently depending on pace. Fast drinking pushes BAC over the limit much sooner; slow drinking lets elimination catch up for longer.
The shaded background shows the drinking period. After the last drink, both lines fall at the same average clearance rate of 0.015% BAC per hour.
Personal estimate
These tables use averages. Your session is unique.
The full BAC calculator tracks each drink individually, with exact size, ABV, and time, for a personalised estimate that accounts for your actual drinking pattern.
Section 3
Why Body Weight Changes Your BAC So Much
Body weight is the single biggest variable in BAC calculation after the amount consumed. Alcohol distributes through body water, and larger bodies contain more water. The same four drinks produce very different BAC levels in a 120 lb person versus a 220 lb person - not because of tolerance or experience, but because of dilution physics.
This is why a BAC chart must always be read with body weight in mind. A safe-looking number of drinks for one person can be well over the legal limit for another.
The table below uses the selected sex (male) and compares four standard drinks consumed over approximately 1h 20m at the fast pace.
| Body Weight | BAC After 4 Drinks (fast) | Legal Status (0.08%) | Legal Status (0.05%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 lbs / 45 kg | 0.14% | Over 0.08% | Over 0.05% |
| 120 lbs / 54 kg | 0.11% | Over 0.08% | Over 0.05% |
| 140 lbs / 64 kg | 0.09% | Over 0.08% | Over 0.05% |
| 160 lbs / 73 kg | 0.08% | At / near 0.08% | Over 0.05% |
| 180 lbs / 82 kg | 0.06% | Under 0.08% | Over 0.05% |
| 200 lbs / 91 kg | 0.05% | Under 0.08% | At / near 0.05% |
| 220 lbs / 100 kg | 0.05% | Under 0.08% | Under 0.05% |
| 240 lbs / 109 kg | 0.04% | Under 0.08% | Under 0.05% |
Notice that at the 0.05% limit used in Australia and much of Europe, four fast drinks leave almost no margin for anyone under 200 lbs. Check the BAC by country guide before relying on a general limit, and read alcohol and driving for the impairment context behind the legal thresholds.
Section 4
Men vs Women: Why the Same Drinks Hit Differently
At the same body weight, women typically reach a higher BAC than men after the same number of drinks. This is due to two biological differences: women have a lower average percentage of body water, meaning less dilution, and lower first-pass metabolism in the stomach, meaning more alcohol reaches the bloodstream unchanged.
The practical implication is significant. A 140 lb woman and a 140 lb man drinking four drinks at the same pace will have meaningfully different BAC levels. The table below uses your selected weight so you can see the same sex-based difference at your own size. The personalisation bar above accounts for this by using different Widmark constants for men and women.
The comparison below uses your selected weight (160 lbs) and the fast pace of one drink every 20 minutes.
| Drinks | Male BAC | Female BAC | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.03% | 0.03% | +0.00% |
| 2 | 0.05% | 0.05% | +0.00% |
| 3 | 0.06% | 0.07% | +0.01% |
| 4 | 0.08% | 0.09% | +0.01% |
| 5 | 0.08% | 0.10% | +0.01% |
| 6 | 0.08% | 0.10% | +0.02% |
Related pages
Next Tools to Use
BAC Calculator
Track every drink individually with exact size, ABV, and time for a session-accurate BAC estimate.
Open page
BAC Chart
Full weight x drinks matrix for men and women, with your country's legal limit highlighted.
Open page
Sober-Up Calculator
Know your peak BAC? Find out exactly when you'll reach zero and when you drop below the legal limit.
Open page
Drink Standard Units
Calculate how many standard drinks are in any beverage by entering its volume and ABV.
Open page
FAQ
BAC by Drinks FAQ
Common questions about drinks-to-BAC estimates, drinking speed, standard drinks, and legal-limit context.
It depends on your body weight, sex, and how fast you drink. For a 160 lb (73 kg) man drinking quickly, approximately 4 standard drinks produces an estimated BAC near 0.08%. For a 140 lb (64 kg) woman at the same pace, approximately 3 drinks can reach 0.08%. Lighter people and women reach the limit with fewer drinks. Use the personalisation bar above to see the specific number for your weight and sex.
There is no universally safe number. It depends on your weight, sex, drinking speed, and your country's legal limit. As a rough guide, in countries with a 0.08% limit, most adults can have 1-2 standard drinks over an hour and remain under the limit. In countries with a 0.05% limit, the margin is smaller. The safest approach is not to drive after any drinking. Use the BAC Chart or full BAC calculator for a weight-specific estimate.
Drinking slowly significantly reduces peak BAC compared to drinking the same amount quickly. At approximately one standard drink per hour, the liver's elimination rate of about 0.015% BAC per hour nearly keeps pace with absorption for average-weight adults. It is not a guarantee of staying under any legal limit because starting BAC, weight, sex, drink size, and metabolism all matter.
Drunk is subjective, but measurable impairment begins at approximately 0.02-0.04% BAC, roughly 1-2 standard beers for most adults. Feeling noticeably affected often starts around 0.05-0.07%, or 2-4 beers depending on weight and pace. Clear impairment usually corresponds to 0.10% or higher. These numbers assume 12 oz / 5% beers. Stronger or larger beers count as more than one standard drink.
Body weight is the biggest factor because larger bodies dilute alcohol more. Biological sex matters because women typically have lower body water percentage and lower first-pass metabolism. Drinking speed affects peak BAC, food slows absorption, and individual enzyme activity, age, medications, and liver health also play a role.
In the United States, one standard drink contains 14 grams of pure alcohol, equivalent to a 12 oz regular beer at 5%, a 5 oz glass of wine at 12%, or a 1.5 oz shot of 40% spirits. Other countries define standard drinks differently: the UK unit is 8g, Australia uses 10g, and Canada uses 13.6g. The tables on this page use the US 14g definition. Use the Drink Standard Units calculator to convert any drink to standard units for your country.