A 360-millilitre bottle of soju, at standard strength, holds roughly 45 grams of pure alcohol — about four-and-a-half “standard drinks” by Singapore’s Health Promotion Board count. The bottle survives a Korean table not because anyone is counting, but because the table is built to slow it down.
Korean drinking is not abstemious. It can go long. What it is, quietly, is paced. There are rules that operate before anyone reaches for a calculator. The second pour requires another person. The glass without food is wrong. The eldest sets the rhythm. None of these are framed as moderation. They function as moderation anyway.
What is actually in the bottle
Singapore’s Health Promotion Board defines a standard drink as 10 grams of pure alcohol — equivalent to a 330-millilitre can of beer at 5%, a 100-millilitre pour of wine at 15%, or a 30-millilitre shot of spirits at 40%. The recommended limit is two standard drinks a day for men, one for women.
A 360-millilitre bottle of modern soju at around 16% alcohol contains about 45 grams of pure alcohol. That is four-and-a-half standard drinks in a bottle smaller than a wine bottle. A single 50-millilitre Korean pour is roughly six grams — more than half of a standard drink. The arithmetic is unforgiving. The etiquette is what makes the bottle survivable.
The second pour
The first pour is automatic. The second pour is the one that does the work. To get another, you wait for someone else at the table to notice. The Korean rule — that you do not pour your own — means the second drink does not arrive on demand. It arrives on attention. The interval between pours is not measured in minutes. It is measured in conversation.
A table of four, with one bottle, drinking by the rule, finishes that bottle in roughly seven pours. Seven small pauses in which somebody has to put down a chopstick, pick up the bottle two-handed, and offer. The pace is gated by social courtesy, not by the clock.
The food beat
The other rule is anju. Korean drinking has a noun for food eaten while drinking — banchan, fried things, stews. To drink without anju is treated as a small embarrassment. The food is not optional ballast; it is the second mechanism. Solid food in the stomach slows the absorption of alcohol. Mouths busy with chewing pour less often. A table laid with seven dishes has more gravity than a table laid with one bottle.
In a country whose health authority counts the standard drink at ten grams and caps the day at one or two, a culture that eats across every drink is, in effect, building moderation into the meal.
What the rules do, in one column
| The rule, as stated | What it does |
|---|---|
| Never pour your own | Gates the rate of drinking on someone else’s attention |
| Always drink with food | Slows absorption; ties pace to chewing |
| The eldest sets the tempo | Caps the first pour at the slowest acceptable speed |
| Two hands when offering or receiving | Inserts a small ritual delay between bottle and glass |
| The bottle moves around the table | Stops one person from drinking faster than the room |
What this looks like at our table
At Joo Bar, the rule is the room. The small glasses are passed; the food arrives in shareable dishes; the bottle is set in the centre, not in front of anyone. As we have written about the fifty-millilitre soju glass, the vessel itself participates in the pacing. The table does the rest.
Nobody at a Korean table announces a daily limit. The bottom of the bottle still arrives later than it would arrive alone. Book a table for two or four, order one bottle, and watch the rules do their work. The second pour is the one to pay attention to.
Source: Singapore Ministry of Health — Alcohol recommended limits and public education. Standard drink definition (10g pure alcohol = 330ml beer at 5% / 100ml wine at 15% / 30ml spirit at 40%) per Singapore’s Health Promotion Board. Soju strength (~16% ABV) per standard retail labelling. Verified May 2026.
