Safe bar hopping comes down to a few decisions made before the first drink: plan your route and your ride home, eat a proper meal, agree to stick together, and count your drinks in standard servings rather than glasses. Keep your drink in your hand, carry ID, tip as you go, and set a time to stop before you start.
None of this takes the fun out of a night out. It just means the only story you bring home is a good one.
Use the checklist below, built on guidance from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the NHS, to plan your next crawl.
Key takeaways
- Book or plan your ride home before you go out, and share the plan with your group.
- A US standard drink holds about 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is 12 ounces of 5% beer, 5 ounces of 12% wine or 1.5 ounces of 40% spirits.
- Eat before you go and between stops. Food is one of the factors that affect how alcohol hits you.
- Never leave a drink unattended, and never accept one from someone you don’t trust.
- If someone is confused, vomiting or hard to wake, call emergency services. Don’t leave them alone.
Before you leave home
The best bar crawls are planned. Tick these off before anyone orders a round.
- ☐ Map the route. Pick three or four bars within easy walking distance so you’re never tempted to drive between them.
- ☐ Sort the ride home. Choose a designated driver, check the last train or bus, or save a taxi number. Decide this now, while everyone is sober.
- ☐ Eat a real meal. Book dinner before the first bar. Browse our restaurant directory for somewhere near your route.
- ☐ Charge your phone and turn on location sharing with at least one friend in the group.
- ☐ Bring ID and a card or cash, and leave anything you’d hate to lose at home.
- ☐ Agree a meeting point in case anyone gets separated or their phone dies.
- ☐ Set an end time and a rough drink limit for yourself.
Pace yourself with standard drinks
Pacing is easier when you know what you’re actually drinking. The NIAAA’s guide to what counts as a standard drink says one US standard drink contains about 14 grams, or 0.6 fluid ounces, of pure alcohol. Glass size alone doesn’t tell you the alcohol content, so check the strength too.
| Drink | One standard drink is about | Typical strength |
|---|---|---|
| Regular beer | 12 fl oz | 5% ABV |
| Malt liquor or hard seltzer | 8–10 fl oz | About 7% ABV |
| Table wine | 5 fl oz | 12% ABV |
| Fortified wine | 3–4 fl oz | About 17% ABV |
| Liqueur or cordial | 2–3 fl oz | About 24% ABV |
| Spirits, such as vodka or whiskey | 1.5 fl oz | 40% ABV |
Source: NIAAA. A pint of strong craft beer or a generous pour of wine can hold well over one standard drink, so count what’s in the glass, not the number of glasses.
Pacing checklist
- ☐ Alternate every alcoholic drink with water or a soft drink.
- ☐ Skip rounds. Buying in rounds means drinking at the pace of the fastest person in the group. Sit one out without apology.
- ☐ Eat at every other stop. Order bar snacks or plan a mid-crawl food stop.
- ☐ Avoid shots and drinking games, which pack a lot of alcohol into a short time.
- ☐ Keep a running count on your phone if you tend to lose track.
Protect your drink and your group
Drink spiking is hard to detect. Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s guidance on spiking warns that many substances used are tasteless, odourless and colourless and leave no visible residue. Prevention comes down to habits.
- ☐ Keep your drink in your hand and never leave it unattended.
- ☐ Don’t accept drinks from people you don’t trust, and watch your drink being poured where you can.
- ☐ Never finish a drink you’ve left behind or someone else’s leftovers.
- ☐ Watch your friends’ drinks as well as your own.
- ☐ Use the buddy system. Nobody leaves a bar, or the night, alone.
Signs someone may have been spiked
The NHS guidance lists sudden intoxication that doesn’t match what someone has drunk, dizziness, difficulty walking, nausea or vomiting, confusion, hallucinations and memory gaps. If you suspect it, stop drinking, tell a trusted friend and a senior member of bar staff, and get to a safe place with someone you trust. Seek urgent medical help if symptoms are severe. Spiking is a crime, so report it to the police.
Plan the ride home while you’re sober, because the version of you at midnight won’t.
Bar etiquette: ID, tabs and tipping
- ☐ Have ID ready at the door and at the bar. Staff may ask anyone, whatever their age.
- ☐ Open a tab carefully. If you leave a card behind the bar, remember to close the tab before moving on.
- ☐ Tip at every stop, following local custom. Bar staff remember a group that tips well and orders clearly.
- ☐ Order together when the bar is busy, and know what you want before you reach the front.
- ☐ Be kind to staff. If they cut someone off, don’t argue. They are doing their job and looking out for you.
For more on this, see our guide to bar etiquette and more ideas in our bars and nightlife guides.
Knowing when to call it a night
The hardest part of a night out is stopping at the right moment. Set your limit early, and watch for signs that you or a friend has had too much.
- ☐ You’ve reached your planned drink count or end time.
- ☐ You’re slurring, stumbling or repeating yourself.
- ☐ A friend has gone quiet, pale or unwell.
- ☐ The group is splitting up and someone would be left alone.
When it’s an emergency
The NIAAA’s guide to alcohol overdose lists warning signs including confusion, difficulty staying conscious or being unable to wake, vomiting, seizures, slow or irregular breathing, clammy skin and a bluish or pale colour. In the US, call 911 immediately; don’t wait for every symptom to appear.
- Stay with them. Never leave someone alone to sleep it off.
- Keep them upright on the ground, sitting or partly upright, rather than in a chair.
- If they’re vomiting, help them lean forward to avoid choking.
- If they’re unconscious, roll them onto one side with an ear towards the ground.
- Skip the myths. NIAAA says cold showers, hot coffee and walking don’t reverse an overdose and can make it worse.
NIAAA also notes that blood alcohol can keep rising after someone stops drinking, because alcohol still in the stomach and intestine continues to enter the bloodstream.
FAQ
How many bars should a bar crawl include?
Three or four within walking distance is plenty. Fewer stops means less time queuing and less pressure to drink at every one.
How much is one standard drink?
In the US, about 14 grams of pure alcohol: 12 ounces of 5% beer, 5 ounces of 12% wine or 1.5 ounces of 40% spirits, according to NIAAA.
What should I do if I think my drink was spiked?
Stop drinking, tell a trusted friend and a senior member of staff, get somewhere safe, and seek medical help if you feel very unwell. Report it to the police.
Does coffee sober you up?
No. NIAAA says cold showers, hot coffee and walking don’t reverse the effects of alcohol overdose. Only time lets the body process alcohol.
Print this before Friday
Screenshot the checklists above and share them in your group chat before the next night out. Agree the route, the ride home and the meeting point, book dinner first, and make sure everyone has water between rounds. Then enjoy it.
Planning the route? Read our guide to finding a great cocktail bar.
Featured photo: Casa Classic Cocktail Bar & Jazz Club by Roland Barrera by Wikimedia Commons contributor, BY-SA 4.0.
