Alcohol by volume

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Alcohol by volume (ABV) is an indication of how much alcohol (expressed as a percentage) is included in an alcoholic beverage. This measurement is assumed as the world standard. Another way of specifying the amount of alcohol is alcoholic proof. An "alcoholic proof" is roughly twice the alcohol by volume.

Typical examples

fruit juice (naturally occurring): 0.1-0.3%
beer: 3–8%
alcopop: 4–7%
cider: 4–8%
barley wine: 10%
wine: 10-15%
port wine: 20%
single malt whisky: 40%
liqueur: 15–55%
liquor (aka spirits): Typically 40% and up, but recently introduced (U.S.) 'light' liquors are only 20%
cask strength single malt whisky: 60%
neutral grain spirit: 95%

Conversion quotients

Given a value in ABW (alcohol by weight) you can convert it easily to ABV using the following formula:

ABV = 1.25 × ABW

or, inversely:

ABW = 0.8 × ABV

These quotients are a fair approximation to the real values; since the ingredients change from beverage to beverage, it is impossible to have a universal formula, as the density of the beverage minus alcohol varies. The above explained value works best for beers, for example.

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