Alcohol by volume

"ABV" redirects here. For other uses, see ABV (disambiguation).

The alcohol by volume shown on a bottle of absinthe

Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a standard measure of the volume of alcohol contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage, expressed as a volume percent.[1][2][3] It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) of pure ethanol present in 100 mL (3.5 imp fl oz; 3.4 US fl oz) of solution at 20 °C (68 °F). The number of millilitres of pure ethanol is the mass of the ethanol divided by its density at 20 °C (68 °F), which is 0.78945 g/mL (0.82353 oz/US fl oz; 0.79122 oz/imp fl oz; 0.45633 oz/cu in).[4] The alc/vol standard is used worldwide. The International Organization of Legal Metrology has tables of density of water–ethanol mixtures at different concentrations and temperatures.

In some countries, e.g. France, alcohol by volume is often referred to as degrees Gay-Lussac (after the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac),[5] although there is a slight difference since the Gay-Lussac convention uses the International Standard Atmosphere value for temperature, 15 °C (59 °F).

  1. ^ "Beer 101". Lafayette Brewing Co. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  2. ^ "Glossary of whisky and distillation". celtic-whisky.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  3. ^ "British Brewing Glossary". English Ales Brewery Monterey. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  4. ^ Haynes, William M., ed. (2011). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (92nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. 3.246. ISBN 978-1-4398-5511-9.
  5. ^ "Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850)". chemistry.about.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2008.