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Alcohol by volume
 
 
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.]] Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as abv or ABV) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
) is contained in an alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol . Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and distilled beverage....
 (expressed as a percentage of total volume
Volume percent

Volume percent is a common expression of a solution's concentration. It is defined as:Volume percent is usually used when the solution is made by mixing two fluids, such as liquids or gases....
). The abv standard is used worldwide.

In some countries, alcohol by volume is referred to as degrees Gay-Lussac (after the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac was a France chemistry and physics. He is known mostly for Gay-Lussac's law related to gases, and for his work on alcohol-water mixtures, which led to the degrees Gay-Lussac used to measure alcoholic beverages in many countries....
).

Proof and ABW
Another way of specifying the amount of alcohol is alcoholic proof
Proof (alcohol)

Alcoholic proof is a measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage. The measure is commonly used in the United States, where it is defined as twice the percentage of alcohol by volume....
, which is twice the alcohol-by-volume number.

In the United States, a few states regulate and tax alcoholic beverages according to alcohol by weight (ABW), expressed as a percentage of total mass
Concentration

In chemistry, concentration is the measure of how much of a given chemical substance there is mixed with another substance. This can apply to any sort of chemical mixture, but most frequently the concept is limited to homogeneous solutions, where it refers to the amount of solute in the solvent....
.






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.]] Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as abv or ABV) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol
Ethanol

Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatility , flammable, colorless liquid....
) is contained in an alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol . Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and distilled beverage....
 (expressed as a percentage of total volume
Volume percent

Volume percent is a common expression of a solution's concentration. It is defined as:Volume percent is usually used when the solution is made by mixing two fluids, such as liquids or gases....
). The abv standard is used worldwide.

In some countries, alcohol by volume is referred to as degrees Gay-Lussac (after the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac was a France chemistry and physics. He is known mostly for Gay-Lussac's law related to gases, and for his work on alcohol-water mixtures, which led to the degrees Gay-Lussac used to measure alcoholic beverages in many countries....
).

Typical ABV levels


  • Fruit juice
    Juice

    Juice is a liquid naturally contained in fruit or vegetable tissue. Juice is prepared by mechanically squeezing or Maceration fresh fruits or vegetables without the application of heat or solvents....
     (naturally occurring): less than 0.1%
  • Low-alcohol beer: 0.0%–4%
  • Beer
    Beer

    Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and Fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal?the most common of which is malted barley, although wheat, maize , and rice are widely used....
    : 4%–12% (most often 4%–6%)
  • Barley wine
    Barley wine

    Barley wine or Barleywine is a Beer style of strong ale originating in England in the nineteenth century but now brewed worldwide. The first beer to be marketed as Barley Wine was Bass Ale No....
     (strong ale): 10%–15%
  • Specialty beers: (13%–25%)
  • Cider
    Cider

    Cider is an alcoholic beverage usually made from the fermentation juice of apples, although pears are also used.While any variety of apple may be used, certain cultivars are preferred in some regions, and these may be known as cider apples....
    : 4%–8.5%
  • Alcopop
    Alcopop

    Alcopop is a term describing certain flavored alcoholic beverages, including:#malt beverages to which various fruit juices or other flavorings have been added,...
    s: 4%–17.5%
  • Wine
    Wine

    Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
    : 9%–18% (most often 12.5%–14.5%)
    • Sake
      Sake

      Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice.This beverage is called sake in English, but in Japanese language, sake or Honorific speech in Japanese refers to alcoholic drinks in general....
       (rice wine): 15% (or 18%–20% if not diluted prior to bottling)
    • Fortified wine
      Fortified wine

      Fortified wine is wine to which a distilled beverage has been added....
      : 15.5%–20% (in the European Union
      European Union

      The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
      , 18%–22%)
  • Liqueurs
    Liqueur

    A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, Nut , spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry....
    : 15%–55%
  • Spirits
    Distilled beverage

    A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is a drinkable liquid containing ethanol that is produced by means of distillation Fermentation grain, fruit, or vegetables....
    : 20%–95%
    • Soju
      Soju

      Soju is a distilled beverage native to Korea. Most brands of modern soju are made in South Korea. Though traditionally made from rice, most major brands supplement or even replace the rice with other starches such as potato, wheat, barley, sweet potato, or tapioca ....
      : 20%-45% (usually 20%)
    • Shochu
      Shochu

      is a distilled beverage native to Japan. It is most commonly distillation from barley, Sweet potato, or rice. Typically, it contains 25% alcohol by volume ....
      : 25%-45% (usually 25%)
    • Vodka
      Vodka

      Vodka is a distilled beverage. It is a clear liquid which consists of mostly water and ethanol purified by distillation ? often multiple distillation ? from a Fermentation substance, such as cereal , potatoes or sugar beet molasses, and an insignificant amount of other substances such as flavorings or unintended impurities....
      : 32%–60% (usually around 40%)
    • Rum
      Rūm

      R?m, also Roum or Rhum , is a very indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of R?m in Asia Minor, and for Greeks inhabiting Ottoman Empire or modern Turkey territory as well as for Greek Cypriots....
      : 37.5%–75.5%
    • Whisky
      Whisky

      Whisky or whiskey refers to a broad category of Distilled beverages that are distilled from Fermentation grain Mashing and aged in wooden casks ....
      : 40%–55% (usually 40% or 43%)
    • Baijiu
      Baijiu

      Baijiu , or shaojiu is a China distilled beverage alcoholic beverage. The name baijiu literally means "white liquor," "white alcohol" or "white spirits"....
      : 40%–60%
    • Palinka
      Palinka

      Palinka is a traditional, double-distilled Brandy#Fruit brandy that is produced in Hungary and in Transylvania....
      : 42%–86%
    • Rakia
      Rakia

      Rakia is Brandy#Fruit brandy that is produced by distillation of fermentation fruit; it is a popular beverage throughout the Balkans, Italy, and France....
      : 42%–86%
    • Absinthe
      Absinthe

      Absinthe is historically described as a distillation, highly alcoholic beverage. It is an anise-flavored Distilled beverage derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Absinth Wormwood, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood"....
      : 45%–75%
    • Poteen: 90%–95%
    • Neutral grain spirit
      Neutral grain spirit

      Neutral grain spirit is a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that is distilled from cereal grain and has a very high ethanol content. The term neutral refers to the fact that it lacks any flavor derived from the Mashing used to distill it, nor does it have any flavor added to it after distillation ....
      : 95%
  • Rectified spirit
    Rectified spirit

    A rectified spirit or rectified alcohol is highly concentrated ethanol which has been purified by means of rectification . It is used in mixed drinks, in the production of liqueurs, for medicinal purposes, and as a household solvent....
    : 96.5%
  • Absolute alcohol: 100%


Proof and ABW


Another way of specifying the amount of alcohol is alcoholic proof
Proof (alcohol)

Alcoholic proof is a measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage. The measure is commonly used in the United States, where it is defined as twice the percentage of alcohol by volume....
, which is twice the alcohol-by-volume number.

In the United States, a few states regulate and tax alcoholic beverages according to alcohol by weight (ABW), expressed as a percentage of total mass
Concentration

In chemistry, concentration is the measure of how much of a given chemical substance there is mixed with another substance. This can apply to any sort of chemical mixture, but most frequently the concept is limited to homogeneous solutions, where it refers to the amount of solute in the solvent....
. Some brewers print the ABW (rather than the ABV) on beer containers, particularly on low-point versions of popular domestic beer brands.

At relatively low ABV, the alcohol percentage by weight is about 4/5 of the ABV (e.g., 3.2% ABW is equivalent to 4.0% ABV). However, because of the miscibility
Miscibility

Miscibility is a term commonly used in chemistry that refers to the property of liquids to mix in all proportions, forming a Homogeneity solution....
 of alcohol and water, the conversion factor is not constant but rather depends upon the concentration of alcohol. 100% ABW, of course, is equivalent to 100% ABV.

See also


  • Alcoholic proof
  • Unit of alcohol
    Unit of alcohol

    In Britain a unit of alcohol is defined as 10 litre of ethanol . It is used as a basis for guidelines on consumption of alcoholic beverages; the number of units contained in a typical drink is publicised and marked on bottles....


Bibliography


External links