One standard 360ml bottle of soju contains roughly 3 to 5 standard drinks, depending on the alcohol content. That range matters because soju today comes in ABVs from 12% to 25%, and the number shifts significantly across that spectrum. A bottle of the most popular style, around 16% to 17% ABV, works out to about 3.3 standard drinks.
The Math Behind the Count
In the United States, one standard drink contains 0.6 ounces (14 grams) of pure alcohol. That’s the amount in a 12-ounce beer at 5% ABV or a 5-ounce glass of wine at 12%. To figure out how many standard drinks are in a bottle of soju, you multiply the bottle’s volume by its alcohol percentage to get the total pure alcohol, then divide by 14 grams.
Here’s how it breaks down for common soju types:
- Flavored soju (12-14% ABV): About 2.5 to 2.9 standard drinks per bottle
- Chamisul Fresh and similar (16-17% ABV): About 3.3 to 3.5 standard drinks per bottle
- Chamisul Original (20.1% ABV): About 4.1 standard drinks per bottle
- Jinro Original (25% ABV): About 5.1 standard drinks per bottle
Most people ordering soju at a Korean restaurant or picking up the familiar green bottle are getting the 16-17% version, which puts them at just over three standard drinks per bottle. That’s roughly equivalent to drinking three cans of beer or splitting a bottle of wine with one other person.
Why the ABV Varies So Much
Soju has been getting lighter for decades. Chamisul launched in 1998 at 23% ABV. By early 2024, Hitejinro dropped Chamisul Fresh to 16%, responding to Korean consumers who increasingly prefer lighter-tasting alcohol. The brand’s original version still sits at 20.1%, and the classic Jinro stays at 25%, but these stronger options are less common in casual drinking settings.
Fruit-flavored soju pushed the ABV even lower when it arrived in 2015. Brands like Chum-Churum Soonhari range from 12% to 14%, while Chamisul’s fruit line sits at 13% and Good Day’s fruit series at 13.5%. A bottle of flavored soju at 13% ABV contains about 2.7 standard drinks, nearly half the alcohol of a bottle of 25% Jinro.
Shots per Bottle
Korean soju glasses are small, holding roughly 50ml each. A 360ml bottle fills about 7 of those glasses. Each shot of standard 17% soju contains just under half a standard drink, which is part of why soju can sneak up on people. The small glass size makes it feel like you’re not drinking much, but finishing your share of a bottle between two people means you’ve had about 1.7 standard drinks, or close to 3.5 shots.
Calories in a Bottle
A 360ml bottle of regular unflavored soju at 20% ABV contains about 270 calories, all from alcohol itself. There are zero carbohydrates and zero sugar in standard soju. Flavored varieties tell a different story. The added fruit syrups and sweeteners bring 8 to 10 grams of sugar per 100ml, which means a full bottle of peach or grape soju can contain around 30 grams of sugar on top of the alcohol calories. Despite the lower ABV, some flavored bottles end up in a similar calorie range because of those added sugars.
How Long a Bottle Takes to Process
Your liver processes alcohol at a relatively fixed rate, regardless of how fast you drink it. For a bottle of 17% soju (about 3.3 standard drinks), most people need roughly 4 to 5 hours to fully metabolize the alcohol. A bottle of 25% soju could take closer to 6 or 7 hours. These timelines vary with body weight, sex, food intake, and individual metabolism, but they’re a useful baseline for planning your evening or your morning after.
The half-life of alcohol in your body is about four to five hours, meaning it takes that long to clear just half the alcohol from your system. Full elimination requires approximately five half-lives, though at the amounts in a single bottle of soju, the practical clearance time is much shorter than that theoretical maximum.