A standard-size bottle of whiskey, rum, vodka, tequila, or other liquor is called a fifth. While we have never widely adopted the metric system in America, we do use it for liquor bottle measurements. The term ‘fifth’ however, is retained from a time when we were still using only ounces, pints, quarts, and gallons to measure alcohol bottles. So, a fifth is a fifth of what, exactly? How much alcohol is a fifth of liquor and how many drinks does it contain?
- How Much is a Fifth of Liquor?
- Why Do We Still Use the Term Fifth?
- Liquor Once Came In 40 Different Sized Bottles
- How Many Drinks In a Fifth?
- Today’s Standard Liquor Bottle Sizes
- Summary
How Much is a Fifth of Liquor?
A fifth of whiskey or other liquor is exactly 750ml of liquid by volume. We Americans, of course, will want to know how many ounces in a fifth. 750 milliliters is just about 25.4 ounces. This amount is the same as a standard wine bottle. The term fifth, however, comes from when bottles were 4/5 of a quart, which is the same as 1/5 of a gallon. In summary:
- Ounces in a fifth of alcohol = 25.4
- Milliliters in a fifth of alcohol = 750
Why Do We Still Use the Term Fifth?
We no longer measure bottle sizes by fractions of a pint or gallon, and the term fifth may be archaic. However, 1/5 gallon, or 4/5 quart is 25.6 ounces, which it is so very close to 750ml (25.4oz) that we still use the term fifth to describe this size bottle.
The fifth stopped being the standard size of a U.S. liquor bottle on January 1, 1980. Look at the explanation above, and you may start to see why.
Why didn’t a bottle of liquor contain a quart? Why only 4/5 of a quart? These 4/5 quart bottles were called “short quarts” or “commercial quarts.” This had to do with the difference between being a liquor wholesaler versus a liquor retailer, and selling liquid by the quart was a general threshold for wholesalers.
Although the laws governing the definition of a retailer differed by state, it was common for a customer to ask for a quart from a retailer and get something a bit less than a quart, but which was still called a quart.
Liquor Once Came In 40 Different Sized Bottles
Imagine if supposedly quart size didn’t have a quart in them? Would you know? Now imagine if liquor came in 40 different size bottles. It did! For years.
Efforts began as early as the 1960s to eliminate the confusing fractions brought about by the pint, quart, and gallon measurements and by the late 1970s efforts were underway to convert liquor bottle sizes to the metric system.
Are you old enough to remember when we were “just about to switch to metric” and you had to try to learn the new system in grade school? Well, liquor is one of the only things we’ve managed to switch. We Americans have our priorities, and it’s liquor, God bless our hearts.
How Many Drinks In a Fifth of Liquor?
The number of drinks in a fifth depends on what kind of drink we are talking about. A shot of whiskey or other alcohol is usually considered to be 1.5 ounces. Most standard cocktails A whiskey ‘neat’ or on the rocks is 2 ounces. Different cocktail recipes contain differing amounts of liquor, but we can estimate that most cocktails contain 1 to 2 ounces. Given that a modern fifth is 25.4 ounces (25.36 to be more exact), then:
- A fifth of alcohol contains just about 17 shots of liquor
- A fifth of whiskey contains just about 12.5 “whiskey neats” or “whiskey on the rocks”
- A fifth of liquor is enough to make around 12 to 25 cocktails.
Today’s Standard Liquor Bottle Sizes
The new law took away most of the old bottle sizes, and made liquor available in the modern “fifth”, the now-familiar 750ml, as well as a 1.75 liter bottle, one liter, 500 milliliters, 200 milliliters, and the minis: 100 milliliters and 50 milliliters, equivalent to a shot, depending on who you ask.
After the switch, a fifth became 750ml, shaving off 7 milliliters. A quart bottle became a liter bottle, adding about 53.5ml.
A half gallon became 1.75 liters, subtracting about 143ml. One pint (actually 4/5 pint) is now 375ml, deleting 98ml, although 500ml bottles existed until June 30, 1989, when they were phased out.
A half pint became 200ml, around 36.6 less. You can rest assured that we paid the same whether the amount was reduced or not.
To make it more clear, I’ve included a table below, giving the metric liquor bottle sizes, the equivalent ounces (approx.), and there supposed correspondence in terms of gallons, quarts or pints.
| Bottle Size, metric | Ounces | Gallon, quart, or pint “equivalent” |
|---|---|---|
| 1.75 liters | 59.2oz. | 1/2 gallon |
| 1 liter | 33.8oz. | 1 quart |
| 750 milliliters | 25.4oz. | 4/5 quart, a “fifth” or 1.5 pints |
| 375 milliliters | 12.7oz. | 4/5 pint |
| 200 milliliters | 6.8oz. | 2/5 pint |
| 100 milliliters | 3.4oz. | 1/5 pint |
| 50 milliliters | 1.75oz. | 1, 1.6, and 2 ounce |
Key Summary Points for “How Much Is A Fifth Of Liquor And Why Is It Called That?”
- Today, a standard-size bottle of liquor contains 750ml or 25.4 ounces, the same amount as a standard wine bottle.
- The term “fifth” comes from when bottles were 4/5 of a quart, which is 1/5 of a gallon.
- We still use the term “fifth” even though bottle sizes are now measured in the metric system. This is because 1/5 gallon (4/5 quart) is very close to 750ml (25.4oz).
- Liquor once came in 40 different-sized bottles. However, in the 1960s, efforts began to eliminate the confusing fractions of pints, quarts, and gallons.
- By the late 1970s, liquor bottle sizes were converted to the metric system.
- The modern “fifth” is 750ml, while other standard sizes are 1.75 liters, 1 liter, 500ml, 200ml, 100ml, and 50ml.
- A fifth of alcohol contains about 17 shots of liquor, 12.5 “whiskey neats” or “whiskey on the rocks”, and enough for 12 to 25 cocktails.
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