Bottle sizes

[Mr. Viking]

Different countries have different names for bottle sizes, please help me document them.

I call a 70cl a tenglass (19-20th century Irish term I think)

35cl a half glass

20cl a quarter bottle

I believe in the US you have handles (175cl)

quarts (100cl)

fifths (75cl)

pints (37.5cl)

[Patchez]

Nailed it for the States, though I don't think you can find many quarts of hooch anymore. Though that may come back with the boost in legal if misnomered "shine".

Also the fifths are listed as 750 ml by the marketing twats so you think you are getting more.

[Miklo]

Minis 50ml
Half pint 200ml
Pint 375ml
Fifth 750ml
Liter 1000ml
Handle 1750ml

[Palinka (RIP)]

I still cannot understand why the standard UK beercan size is now 440ml. It corresponds with nothing...

[Mr. Viking]

I still cannot understand why the standard UK beercan size is now 440ml. It corresponds with nothing...

I've often wondered about that. The only link I can see is that pop cans are 330ml, so it's proportional. That makes no sense though.


I concluded that it's about 100ml less than a pint but close enough to look similar on a shelf so good for margins

[booznik]

I like boozy nerdy topics like this. In the US, federal law, consistent among the states: (as for the original question, the names here have mostly been previously stated. Thank you, Miklo.)

The names I provide come only from my experience in my own region.

§ 5.47a Metric standards of fill (distilled spirits bottled after December 31, 1979).

Metric standards of fill (distilled spirits bottled after December 31, 1979).
(a) Authorized standards of fill. The standards of fill for distilled spirits are the following:

(Section regarding cans omitted as I've never seen hard liquor in a can sold here, only alcopops. In the US, all alcopops are currently malt beverages for tax reasons, and fall under the beer regulations. I think this part of the regulation is now obsolete.)

1.75 liters - Handle, also "a one point seven five", especially if it doesn't have an actual handle on it. Informally, "the big bottle", because it's the largest size.
1.00 liter - I usually hear this referred to as a "one-liter". They aren't that common at retail, and are mostly used in bars because they're easier to pour from than a handle.
750 milliliters - The name "fifth" is well-understood here, but it's mostly just a "regular size", as it is the standard size. Also a "seven fifty" if you're not old enough to be used to saying fifth.
500 milliliters (Authorized for bottling until June 30, 1989) - Moot point, as you don't see these anymore.
375 milliliters - Always called a pint, even though it is well short of that in US measure.
200 milliliters - Half pint. I've also heard these referred to as "small bottles".
100 milliliters - I don't think I've ever seen or heard of one on sale.
50 milliliters - A mini, also sometimes called an airplane bottle.

Basically, this means that while you can legally bring in a 700ml bottle after traveling, they can't be legally sold here. There was a regulation proposed to relax this, but I don't think it went anywhere. Higher priorities and all.

More info if it hasn't bored you to death already: My bottle is bigger than yours.

Bonus: why are UK beer cans 440ml?

To cheat you out of your full 500ml and make a little bit of extra profit.

Extra bonus:

Most Americans have no clue what a centiliter is. The term isn't used here.

[tomodon]

I too like boozy nerdy topics like this...loving it!

I always wondered about the quantities of beers sold in countries. In North America, beers by the case are more often sold...in 12's, 18's or 24. In the UK and Ireland, in my experience, smaller quantities are marketed. Four beers wrapped together in their little plastic handcuffs tends to be the norm.

Personally, I prefer the North American quantity. I wonder if the nanny state in my part of the world has a say on how beer is sold here. I like leaving the liquor store with a box of beer that needs a handle.

On topic, I remember a small size of liquor bottle of about 250ml in Limerick - where I used to live - being called a 'naggan'. Leading to the amusing comment when you were sneaking booze into the cinema or wherever, "crouching tiger, hidden naggan".

[booznik]

...In North America, beers by the case are more often sold...in 12's, 18's or 24.

In cans, you can also get the fabulous 36-pack, which equals three 12-packs in one box. It's been a long time since I bought one, but the young slim girl at the cash register couldn't lift it. She needed help. That amount of beer is heavy.

[ThirstyDrunk]

Forty ouncers need love too.

[Patchez]

Edward 40 hands!

[oettinger]

Do they sell these crappy 5 liter mini kegs outside of germany?
They are pure crab as half the beer is turned into foam while you tap it. You can still wait till it`s stale and drink the other half...

[Casual Binger]

Australia i think has similar sizes to the UK. Standard spirits size is 700 ml, commonly known as a "bottle". No idea why this size as wine bottles n longnecks of beer are 750. 375 known as a hip flask or hippie, even when shaped otherwise. A one litre bottle is known as a "one litre bottle". Not much to see here. However, beer bottles are interesting in that you have the uniquely Aussie 125 ml "throwdown". Designed for outback pubs in summer in the days before air con, the idea is that you can drink them before they get warm.

[oettinger]

125 "throwdowns" huh Binger? Almost sounds like the small samples you get for breakfast in a plane. They sometimes sell 250 ml cans and bottles mostly at airports or places frequented by a foreign crowd.
Btw is it good morning already at yours?
In germany we go by:
330ml cans, are hard to come by nowadays, the bottles are still around for sissys as we call em dwarfs
500 ml cans and bottled standart here, you usually buy a case of 20 bottles or if you are as desperate as I am 24 of the cans on a sunday night at the gas station
Liquor, expensive stuff comes in in various sizes, but the usual is 700ml
Friday they sold 1 litre bottles of Captain Morgans for 23 bucks
There are of course super sized bottles only a retard would buy, cause they cost half a fortune
5 liter wine jugs, plastic or glas, they are awesome. You have to really like that paticular wine though

[Fast Cast]

We call the little 50ml airplane bottles "nips".

[Mr. Viking]

forgot about nagans, called that in most of Ireland I think.


Mini kegs, I believe, are supposed to be bought a week in advance and chilled to almost freezing. I've always just got the foamcano though. Trouble is they keep them on shelves rather than a fridge, takes a long time to chill that much beer.



sometimes get gallon bottles in the uk, including a few amusing cradle devices to make them easy to pour


Booznik, if you want, we can go further and introduce modern and archaic kegg/barrel sizes