How to Use the Mixed Drink Alcohol Calculator
When you mix beer with liquor, or combine spirits into a cocktail, it's hard to guess the actual alcohol percentage of what you're drinking. This calculator takes the volume and ABV of each drink you mix and computes the exact combined ABV and total grams of pure alcohol consumed.
The math isn't a simple average. Each drink's volume is multiplied by its ABV to get its pure alcohol volume, these are summed across all drinks, then divided by the total volume to get the mixed ABV. For example, mixing 12oz of 5% beer with 1.5oz of 40% liquor comes out closer to 8% rather than the naive average of 22.5%, because the beer's volume dominates the mix.
Grams of pure alcohol consumed factors in volume, ABV, and the density of ethanol (about 0.789g/mL), giving you a more objective sense of how much alcohol actually entered your body than ABV alone. Add a third drink's volume and ABV if you're mixing more than two ingredients.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. A simple average is inaccurate. You need to add up the pure alcohol volume (volume x ABV) from each drink, then divide by the total volume. If the volumes differ a lot, the real result can be quite different from a plain average.
Yes, just fill in the volume and ABV for the third drink field and it will be included in the mixed ABV calculation. Leave it blank to calculate based on two drinks only.
ABV alone doesn't tell you the actual amount of alcohol consumed. Grams of pure alcohol factors in volume, ABV, and the density of ethanol (about 0.789g/mL), giving a more objective picture of your intake.