 "Photo: Kerry Lentz")
Before students hit the bars, they might want to brush up on their Alcohol 101.
It doesn't take a mathematician to know how much alcohol students are consuming, just one's memory and good judgment when deciding what alcoholic drink to order.
The key to knowing what's exactly in a drink is considering the brand of liquor, alcohol content by volume, drink recipes, mixers and bartender's pouring techniques, according to the Web site of the Beer Institute, a Washington D.C.-based organization that represents the beer industry before Congress, state legislatures and public forums nationwide.
The Web site reports that because of these varying factors there is no "standard" drink.
Slogans made by some hard liquor companies claiming, "a drink is a drink" is false, according to the institute, because of higher levels of alcohol content found in liquor, wine or spirits, rather than the standardized content of beer.
"There's really not a good understanding among students of what a standard drink is," said Juli McCauley, clinical department administrator at the Student Health Services at Texas Tech.
For the average person who wants to keep their blood alcohol content at the nationally recognized legal limit of 8 percent or lower, she said, one drink per hour is a standard rule of thumb and "a pretty good guideline to use."
A standard measurement at Bash Riprock's, a local bar near the Tech campus, is one ounce for every mixed drink, said bartender Andy Mitchell. Many bars, including Bash Riprock's use a measuring device called a jigger to measure a shot.
One shot of alcohol equals one-and-a-half ounces, according to drink recipe Web site Drink Street. One cup equals 8 ounces. When bartenders are not using a jigger, he said, they know how many counts are in an ounce when pouring a shot.
After two years of bartending experience, Mitchell said he would recommend students to abstain from certain drinks with a high alcohol content and high proof, such as Everclear, a grain alcohol with alcohol concentrations as high as 95 percent, 190 proof, or Bacardi 151 with 151 proof and 75.5 percent alcohol.
Bash Riprock's is one of the only bars in Lubbock to serve Everclear, he said, but it cannot serve liquors that are illegal to sell in other states.
Students should stay away from doubles drinks, Mitchell said as a word of advice while nearby customers nodded their heads in approval.
"I wouldn't say anything is dangerous," Mitchell said, "if they are serving it right."
Another factor of understanding alcohol consumption is the quality of liquor brands.
Adam Klement, a bartender at the local bar Wild West and a graduate student from Muenster, said he advises against cheap gin and tequila.
"Long Islands are the best bang for your buck," he said before listing off the drink's five different liquor ingredients: rum, vodka, triple sec, gin and tequila.
Not all students drink alcohol, but drinkers and non-drinkers alike may take an interest in this week's events for Alcohol Awareness and Recovery Week, hosted by Tech's Student Health Services.
The scheduled events range from alcohol screening tests, a presentation from a convicted drunken driver and a mocktail party.
The event's main focus is supporting students who resist drinking alcohol and informing those who do drink, said Amanda Eldredge, health educator at Student Health Services.
At Saturday's RaiderGate, Eldredge said, she handed out root beer and water for students so they could have a non-alcoholic beverage alternative.
Students may want to have a beverage to fit in with their peers, McCauley said, and they should feel comfortable having a non-alcoholic drink.
"Because we're social creatures, we want to do as others are and drink with them," she said.
If students decide to drink alcohol, McCauley said, it is important to plan ahead by pacing one's speed of consumption, alternating between alcohol and water to stay hydrated, and eat a meal before and while drinking.
And when alcohol gets the best of students, she said, they need to learn from their past experiences and try not to repeat the mistake of drinking too much.
"There's nothing that can speed up ridding your body of alcohol," McCauley said. "It just takes time."
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