Australians, Germans, beer, and numbers.

[3trew]

I have in front of me a beer can. It is a German beer, DAB (Dortmunder Actien-Brauerei), and from the printing on the can it's for export to France (or French speaking places), England (or English speaking places), I don't know, Spain or Spanish speaking places, Portugal or Portugese speaking places, I don't know, I don't know in Asian characters, and Sweden.

The other printing on the can is kind of interesting. In Canada you can return it for a refund where applicable, but in Quebec they owe you 20 cents. Given that Quebec was still a part of Canada the last time I looked at the news that's interesting but understandable.

What confuses me is the other bit in English. It says "For Australia Approx 1.9 Standard Drinks".

Maybe I'm jaded. 5% alcohol by volume is standard here for beer, and 500ml is a bit more than a pint. I can't see how that could be 1.9 standard drinks in any civilized country, let alone a place that has produced the Australians I have met.

Please, somebody tell me that the wine industry hasn't taken over and turned Australia into a nation of lightweights!

[hawthorne]

It's to enable you to do calculations for driving and health. A standard drink contains 10 grams on alcohol. For normal strength beer that's 285ml. This is a standard pub measure. Here in Victoria, it's called a pot, north of us a middy.

To stay under the blood alcohol limit for driving, the average bloke can drink two pots in the first hour and one each hour after that and stay below .05.

[Jervoise]

Interestingly, consuming 7 or more standard drinks is generally considered "risky" or "binge" drinking. A typical full-strength Australian bottle or can of beer may be 1.4 standard drinks; drinking five stubbies (or a bottle of wine) in a day is enough to put you in the "high risk" category.

Here in Victoria, it's called a pot, north of us a middy

West of you, too.