Alcoholic drink facts for kids

An alcoholic drink is a drink that contains a special type of alcohol called ethanol. In chemistry, there are many kinds of alcohols, but ethanol is the only one safe to drink. People often just say "alcohol" when they mean ethanol or a drink that has ethanol in it, like whiskey or vodka.

Ethanol is usually made through a process called fermentation. This is when tiny living things, like bacteria, change sugar into ethanol or vinegar.

How Alcoholic Drinks Are Made

Fermentation alone can only make drinks with up to about 20% alcohol. To make drinks with more alcohol, a process called distillation is used. Distillation can increase the alcohol content to 80-85%. For example, some kinds of Rum used for cooking can be 70–80% alcohol.

Types of Alcoholic Drinks

Alcoholic drinks are generally put into three main groups:

• Beers, meads, and ciders: These usually have up to about 15% alcohol.
• Wines and sake: These typically have 12–20% alcohol.
• Spirits: These are distilled alcohol and have 20% alcohol or more. Examples include vodka and tequila.

Rules About Selling Alcoholic Drinks

Most countries have rules about who can buy alcoholic drinks and where they can be sold. Often, there are different age limits for drinks like wines and beers compared to stronger distilled drinks.

Alcopops are sweet drinks that usually don't have a lot of alcohol, often less than beer. However, many governments have special rules about selling them. This is because they contain distilled alcohol, and some people worry they might be popular with young people.

Effects of Drinking Alcohol

It's important to know that alcoholic drinks can be dangerous. If someone drinks too much alcohol, they become intoxicated, which means they get drunk. When people are drunk, they might say or do unusual things and may not be able to control themselves well. How much alcohol it takes to get drunk is different for everyone.

All alcohols are toxic, but ethanol is less harmful than other types because the human body can break it down quickly. However, even ethanol can cause intoxication and impairment if too much is consumed.

When someone drinks alcohol regularly and can't stop, it's called alcoholism. This is a serious addiction.

Related pages

• Beer
• Cocktail
• Rum
• Tequila
• Vodka
• Wine

Images for kids

• 

  A liquor store in the United States.

• 

  This map shows how much alcohol people aged 15 or older drank per person in 2016.

• 

  Reducing red wine for a sauce. Cooking boils off water and most of the alcohol, making the sauce more concentrated with wine flavor.

• 

  This chart shows the percentage of females (A) and males (B) who drank alcohol in 2016 across different places.

• 

  This chart shows the average number of standard drinks (10 grams of pure ethanol per serving) consumed per day by females (A) and males (B) in 2016.

See also

In Spanish: Bebida alcohólica para niños