Understanding alcohol %

:) The percentage talk made me laugh!

Also I believe there is another way of saying how much alcohol is in a drink, and that's by saying what proof it is. According to my granddad something was considered 100% proof if it was sufficiently strong enough that you could still light gun powder when the drink was poured on it. 100% proof is about 40% ABV. I might actually look that up now to see if he was making it up :)

EDIT:
Just looked it up and ran into this (looks like he was telling the truth!);
The term originated in the 18th century, when payments to British sailors included rations of rum. To ensure that it had not been watered down, the rum was “proved” by dousing gunpowder in it, then testing to see if it would ignite. If the gunpowder did not burn, the rum contained too much water—and was considered to be “underproof.”

A “proven” sample of rum was defined to be 100 degrees proof. This was later found to occur at 57.15% ethanol. This percentage is very close to a 4:7 ratio of alcohol to total amount of liquid. Seventy degrees proof is then equivalent to 40% ABV
[(4÷7) × .7 = 0.4]. And pure, 100% alcohol is 175 degrees proof [(4÷7) × 1.75 = 1.0].

This definition is no longer used in the United Kingdom; the ABV system must be used to state the alcohol content on bottles.
 
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If it is 40% ABV, it will contain 400ml of ethanol per litre. 10ml per 25ml shot, 10ml = 1 unit of alcohol.
 
It's the ratio of alcohol vs water & other ingredients in the liquid. It doesn't matter if you take a thimble full or a gallon, the percentage will always be x% as that' the percentage of alcohol in that volume of the drink.
 
I have another question - why does a glass of 12% beer get you trolleyed so much more than a glass of 12% wine??
 
Lysander said:
Well I figured that... but why? How do they increase the effect of the alcohol?
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I believe that the bubbles cause pressure to build up in your stomach, this forces open the valve that lets stuff through into the intestines, this is where alcohol is absorbed into your blood stream. Basically with a flat drink the alcohol gets into your blood slower, but with a fizzy drink the alcohol gets to your blood much faster. That's how I understood it anyway.
 
yak.h'cir said:
I believe that the bubbles cause pressure to build up in your stomach, this forces open the valve that lets stuff through into the intestines, this is where alcohol is absorbed into your blood stream. Basically with a flat drink the alcohol gets into your blood slower, but with a fizzy drink the alcohol gets to your blood much faster. That's how I understood it anyway.
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Yes, a colleague of mine was saying something similar, that makes sense. I normally feel the effect of champagne faster than wine too.
 
Lysander said:
I have another question - why does a glass of 12% beer get you trolleyed so much more than a glass of 12% wine??
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Pint = over 500mL

Glass of wine = closer to 75~125mL

Pour a pint of wine down your throat you'll get the same effect ;)

Bubbles to make the alcohol get to your bloodstream quicker IIRC - hence why Champagne tends to have more of an effect than wine.
 
yak.h'cir said:
Also I believe there is another way of saying how much alcohol is in a drink, and that's by saying what proof it is. According to my granddad something was considered 100% proof if it was sufficiently strong enough that you could still light gun powder when the drink was poured on it. 100% proof is about 40% ABV. I might actually look that up now to see if he was making it up :)
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hes not making it up & you're along the right lines there AFAIK - tis something to do with gunpowder! - though it is 'degrees' proof not '%' proof
 
I will not post and start ranting on one of my main hobby horses - that is the wholly unworkable, patronising, misleading, miserable nonsense about alcohol consumption measured by "units" in a "glass" invented by a bunch of bureaucratic nitwits with a calorie counting mentality.
 
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