# Is drinking a fifth of alcohol in one day dangerous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 20, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430 "2004-03-20T19:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gvnthenoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c37758/32.png) [@gvnthenoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gvnthenoose)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/21 "2017-09-13T04:58:11Z")
This may be old. But I joined to educated any whole happen upon this page. ``` Will you die from consuming a fifth of hard alcohol by itself? Maybe. Will it damage your organs? Maybe. There is a lot unknown when it comes to alcohol consumption. The main organ to be concerned with is the liver. It has to break down all that poison you put in your body. The second, is the brain. These are by far the most important mechanisms of the human body. Woo. Now that that's over. If you are able to drink 750 ml's of anything without a response from your body you're probably okay. I read that it only takes one night of heavy binge drinking to induce fatty liver disease. Though it only takes 3 days for your liver to recover from it. Cirrhosis, the big scare, takes years. I would say--If you are able to put down that much alcohol without passing out (save the morons that chug a gallon of 80 proof to look cool) you'll be fine. Just rest up before your next bout. A side note, alcohol is a poison. A terrible tasty poison. I myself suffer from alcoholism. By my own choice. Drink smart. No one gets out alive, but you can't enjoy your time if you're sick. ``` ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/22 "2017-09-13T06:43:07Z")
I know this is a zombie, but perhaps alcohol is a preservative. I’m the kind of person who’s had weekend beach houses and (more often) spent time at the beach houses of friends. A typical Saturday often begins with bloody Marys or mimosas, continues with beer or wine at lunch, cocktails in the late afternoon, plenty of wine at dinner, and more cocktails late. Physically hazardous? Not in an immediate sense, not in my experience. Long term? We’ll, I’ve seen and done it many times. Is it going to shorten anyone’s life? Results so far inconclusive. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/23 "2017-09-13T12:45:44Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > A typical Saturday often begins with bloody Marys or mimosas, continues with beer or wine at lunch, cocktails in the late afternoon, plenty of wine at dinner, and more cocktails late. A fifth contains around 17.2 “standard” servings of alcohol (44ml). To reach that in the 5 sessions you describe requires consuming around 3.5 servings at each. Seems like hard work. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/24 "2017-09-13T14:15:20Z")
Speeding the zombie right along … But spread over the 18+ hour “drinking day” from beachfront wake-up to beachfront bed-time it’s less than one standard serving per hour. Pacing my dear boy; pacing. Plus near continuous noshing to blunt the spikes. If you were careful / lucky / experienced you might never even break the legal driving limit for BAC. For sure at very best you’d be skirting right along it. Not that it’d be smart to drink that much more than a couple times per lifetime. aside: I was amazed to see that 13 years ago a lot of 'Merkin people had no idea the standard unit of sales for hard liquor in the USA was/is a “fifth”. To me that’s about like not knowing beer is commonly sold in “six-packs.” Whether one drinks the stuff or not is almost immaterial; it seems to me like pretty basic universal cultural knowledge. Apparently I was wrong in that. Live and learn. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/25 "2017-09-13T14:21:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > aside: I was amazed to see that 13 years ago a lot of 'Merkin people had no idea the standard unit of sales for hard liquor in the USA was/is a “fifth”. To me that’s about like not knowing beer is commonly sold in “six-packs.” Whether one drinks the stuff or not is almost immaterial; it seems to me like pretty basic universal cultural knowledge. Apparently I was wrong in that. Live and learn. The people I see in this thread asking what a fifth is are from outside the US, so far as I can tell (I see three people who don’t know what it is. The first two are from the UK [second and third post] and I presume the one comparing it to a 26er is a Canadian.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/26 "2017-09-13T14:35:01Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > Before attempting the stunt you should have the foresight to clean and disinfect your toilet. Most likely, before the fifth is finished, or shortly thereafter (unless you have developed a high tolerance), you will find your head inside the bowl. Excellent advice! I had been pregnant 3 times [no kids resulting] complete with hyperemesis [I came away with the odd ability after that to vomit on demand. Yuck.] and have nausea and vomit issues that are medication related and I can definitely agree, a clean bleach smelling toilet is way more pleasant to vomit into than something with residual ‘organic’ smells. Sometimes the smell of bleach will short circuit the nausea and stop the hurl. Back in my misspent youth I did do a fair amount of drinking, I had a run in with 16 margueritas - I drank 15 just fine, but was about 4 sips into the 16th but when I brought it to my nose and smelled the tequila I just _knew_ that if I took the sip I would vomit. Haven’t been able to abide the smell or taste of tequila since. [it was over the course of about 6 hours] My normal ‘bar trick’ was to identify by taste and smell the common 5 gins carried [mid 70s to mid 80s] and my normal drinking habit was probably 5 shots of vodka interspersed with variously bloody marys, amaretto sours, mai tais, and an occasional mudslide over 6-8 hours. Oddly, I have never actually had a hangover, I tend to stay buzzed well into the next day. I rarely drink now, other than an occasional Mike’s Hard Lemonaid or sangria though I did have a glass of asti spumante for New Years, and did a shot for my brothers 1 year wake. Being diabetic, I can’t process the booze and carbs, so I prefer to eat. If marijuana became legal recreationally I would shift to using an occasional vape for relaxation. As I am on a pain control contract, I don’t risk anything in case of a random piss test. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/27 "2017-09-13T14:40:32Z")
I always think of ‘a fifth’ as an older term that just doesn’t get used anymore. I think the only time I’ve ever heard it is in movies that take place in the 30’s-50’s. Usually an already half drunk person stumbling into a bar and saying ‘barkeep, gimme a fifth of rye’. While it may very well be an American term, I also think it’s just not very common. Nowadays you hear 750 (or just ‘bottle’), for that size. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/28 "2017-09-13T14:48:37Z")
Ha ha! I was thinking the same thing … although in Canada we refer to them as a 26er, eh? As to the OP, is it dangerous? For an average non-drinker, yes. For a moderate to regular drinker, it would depend on the overall time span, body mass, metabolism, food consumption, health, tolerance, etc… For a heavy drinker, it’s not immediately dangerous but will eventually kill them if they keep it up. That said, 18 shots is not an overwhelming amount of alcohol over time especially if you’re mixing your own, diluting it with ice, etc… FYI, something like a Long Island Iced Tea contains 4 shots, you’d only have to have 4-5 to get to the equivalent of a fifth. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/29 "2017-09-13T14:53:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I was amazed to see that 13 years ago a lot of 'Merkin people had no idea the standard unit of sales for hard liquor in the USA was/is a “fifth”. To me that’s about like not knowing beer is commonly sold in “six-packs.” Whether one drinks the stuff or not is almost immaterial; it seems to me like pretty basic universal cultural knowledge. Apparently I was wrong in that. Live and learn. As has been pointed out, it depends who is doing the bottling and where (regulations will differ in Scotland versus Kentucky). Imports and exports also mix things up. Just don’t try the drinking game with the ever-popular 100 cl bottle! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/30 "2017-09-13T15:08:31Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I always think of ‘a fifth’ as an older term that just doesn’t get used anymore. I think the only time I’ve ever heard it is in movies that take place in the 30’s-50’s. Usually an already half drunk person stumbling into a bar and saying ‘barkeep, gimme a fifth of rye’. While it may very well be an American term, I also think it’s just not very common. Nowadays you hear 750 (or just ‘bottle’), for that size. I’ve never heard 750 here in Chicago. “Bottle,” yes. But it’s: handle (1.75L), fifth (750mL), Pint (375mL), half-pint (200mL). “Fifth” is definitely still used around here, although, yes, “bottle” will be more common. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/31 "2017-09-13T15:14:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > aside: I was amazed to see that 13 years ago a lot of 'Merkin people had no idea the standard unit of sales for hard liquor in the USA was/is a “fifth”. To me that’s about like not knowing beer is commonly sold in “six-packs.” Whether one drinks the stuff or not is almost immaterial; it seems to me like pretty basic universal cultural knowledge. Apparently I was wrong in that. Live and learn. Just to add, I interpreted a few of the “a fifth of what?” posts to be asking “which alcohol in particular?” rather than a mis-understanding of the term “a fifth”. The implication being that different alcohols have different impacts, concentration of alcohol (proof) being one factor. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/32 "2017-09-13T15:28:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The people I see in this thread asking what a fifth is are from outside the US, so far as I can tell (I see three people who don’t know what it is. The first two are from the UK [second and third post] and I presume the one comparing it to a 26er is a Canadian.) I’ve heard the size originated due to government regulations. Some laws applied to alcohol sold in quantities of a quarter gallon or more. So manufacturers began using a fifth of a gallon as the new standard size bottle to avoid these regulations. Later, manufacturers embraced the metric system because a fifth of a gallon is 757 ml and they could save seven milliliters by selling 750 ml bottles. Is this true? I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/33 "2017-09-13T15:50:46Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > aside: I was amazed to see that 13 years ago a lot of 'Merkin people had no idea the standard unit of sales for hard liquor in the USA was/is a “fifth”. To me that’s about like not knowing beer is commonly sold in “six-packs.” Whether one drinks the stuff or not is almost immaterial; it seems to me like pretty basic universal cultural knowledge. Apparently I was wrong in that. Live and learn. I am almost 50 and have lived in America my whole life. I don’t think that I have ever seen a fifth of liquor in the store. They are always 750ml bottles labeled as 750ml no mention of non metric units. My dad had some old bottles which were 1/5th a gallon without metric labels. Even when I was a kid “a fifth” sounded like something grampa would say. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/34 "2017-09-13T16:04:01Z")
No doubt this would kill a lightweight drinker. As a former heavy drinker I have consumed a fifth in an evening before. Even as an alcoholic it felt like an enormous effort and a big risk, and I regretted it bitterly the day after. I felt I’d crossed a very dangerous line and only did it on 6-10 more occasions after that. I find it sad that anyone would portray this as a macho accomplishment. You don’t get a prize, chicks don’t dig it, it won’t win you respect or esteem from anybody. In fact, most likely nobody will remember it. It’s what people do when habitual alcohol consumption has made them reckless, stupid, and self-destructive. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/35 "2017-09-13T16:24:39Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > No doubt this would kill a lightweight drinker. As a former heavy drinker I have consumed a fifth in an evening before. Even as an alcoholic it felt like an enormous effort and a big risk, and I regretted it bitterly the day after. I felt I’d crossed a very dangerous line and only did it on 6-10 more occasions after that. > > I find it sad that anyone would portray this as a macho accomplishment. You don’t get a prize, chicks don’t dig it, it won’t win you respect or esteem from anybody. In fact, most likely nobody will remember it. It’s what people do when habitual alcohol consumption has made them reckless, stupid, and self-destructive. I’d agree. I’m a reformed alcoholic as well. It was entirely possible to drink a fifth of rye or S.C. in an evening along with a couple of beers. The morning after(s) were tough but not a deterrent enough, I guess. I had to give up the hard stuff eventually as I found it was making me erratic, angry, and combative. I stuck to a beer only regiment for many years after that, I’d frequent the pub almost daily consuming maybe 5-6 20oz. pints on average. On weekends, drinking 18-24+ bottles in a prolonged evening was not uncommon. It wasn’t until I was married and had my first boy that I finally decided that I had better things to do and shut it down. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/36 "2017-09-13T16:32:09Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > I am almost 50 and have lived in America my whole life. I don’t think that I have ever seen a fifth of liquor in the store. They are always 750ml bottles labeled as 750ml no mention of non metric units. My dad had some old bottles which were 1/5th a gallon without metric labels. Even when I was a kid “a fifth” sounded like something grampa would say. Really? Well, it’s all regional, I guess. I’m 42, and I grew up hearing and using “fifth.” It refers to the 750 mL bottles, not an actual bottle that is 1/5 of a gallon. I don’t ever remember seeing an actual 1/5 gallon bottle, but they’re still called “fifths” around here, just like “pint” and “half-pint” are still the terms used for the smaller liquor bottles, even though they have little to do with the actual metric units (375 and 200 mL respectively.) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/37 "2017-09-13T16:34:21Z")
> [@mogiaw](#): > > I regularly drink a fifth of whiskey (JD or Paddy etc.) or vodka (smirnoff) before going out for the night. I can handle it grand but i’m a very big guy over 300lbs methinks. Sometimes i’m relatively sober after a bottle, sometimes i’m bananas drunk depends on what i’ve eaten, where i am etc. I have on occasion drunk 2 fifths of whiskey or vodka but that tends to either put me into a very deep sleep or make me go crazy. > mogiaw Note that this was **mogiaw’s** very last post here … I don’t want to jump to conclusions or anything but perhaps regularly drinking a fifth of whiskey isn’t a good idea … ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/38 "2017-09-13T16:39:52Z")
Called a fifth, sure, but outside the USA (i.e., in Britain) that size counts as a sixth at most, so the label would actually say 75 cl and not refer to gallons. So your and **gazpacho** ’s experiences are not necessarily inconsistent. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/39 "2017-09-13T17:09:08Z")
The Fourth-Year Fifth remains a minor tradition at the University of Virginia. The idea is that on the morning of the last home football game, you are supposed to start drinking a fifth of alcohol from the time you wake up and finish it before the opening kickoff. Few people attempt it, and I suspect that most of those get too sick or pass out before they finish. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430/40 "2017-09-13T17:22:58Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Called a fifth, sure, but outside the USA (i.e., in Britain) that size counts as a sixth at most, so the label would actually say 75 cl and not refer to gallons. So your and **gazpacho** ’s experiences are not necessarily inconsistent. We’re both American, so we’re talking about intra-US dialectal differences here. Of course I don’t expect anyone in the UK to call it a fifth. Was there ever a history of “fifths” there (actual curiosity. I don’t know, but I’ve always assumed it was a US term, since I believe that size has to do with US taxes or something like that.) And, yes, they are marked as 750mL everywhere here, to my knowledge. I’ve never seen a fifth marked in imperial units. Unless I’m misunderstanding, it seems like **gazpacho** is not just saying he’s never seen an actual fifth of a gallon of liquor in the store, but also that the term is old fuddy-duddy. I’m younger than him and in my part of the US, it’s still well understood among people my age and at least ten years younger, from what I can tell. I’m a little surprised as **Joey P** is not all _that_ far from me, but he reports that it’s not a usual term up there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-drinking-a-fifth-of-alcohol-in-one-day-dangerous/235430.md?page=3)