Bar measures and conversions

From a drop to a double

A drop is about a thousandth of a double. That spread is why the small measures are counted rather than converted: a few drops more or less is lost in the drink, while 5ml more of spirit is not.

Measures with an exact size

Millilitre (ml) = 1ml

The unit every CocktailHQ recipe is written in.

Centilitre (cl) = 10ml

Ten millilitres. Common in European and IBA specs: 5cl is 50ml.

US fluid ounce (oz) = 29.57ml

29.57ml. American recipes round it to 30ml, and so do most conversions — including the ones here when they are rounded for the bar.

Imperial fluid ounce = 28.41ml

28.41ml. Older British books use it; the difference from a US ounce is under 4%, which no drink will show.

Teaspoon (tsp) = 4.93ml

A measuring teaspoon is 5ml (the US one 4.93ml). A cutlery teaspoon is not a measure.

Tablespoon (tbsp) = 14.79ml

15ml in the UK and US (14.79ml US customary). Australian tablespoons are 20ml.

Measures without one

These are the size of whatever poured them. Where the site has to do arithmetic with one — units, calories, a batch — it uses the working figure shown, and the result is no more exact than the measure.

Barspoon

Roughly 2.5ml–5ml; the site works with 5mlBar spoons are not made to a standard. Most hold somewhere between half and a whole teaspoon; measure yours once with water.

Dash

Roughly 0.5ml–1.5ml; the site works with 0.9mlA shake from a dasher bottle. It changes with the bottle's top and how full it is. Bitters are dosed by the dash because a small variation does not matter.

Drop

Roughly 0.03ml–0.1ml; the site works with 0.05mlFrom a dropper bottle — saline, tinctures. Count drops; do not convert them.

Jiggers

A double-ended jigger is two measuring cups back to back. There is no standard pair; these are the ones usually sold. One with lines marked inside does the work of several.

Check it once

Jiggers are often a little over or under their stamped size. Weigh one full of water on a kitchen scale: one millilitre of water is one gram, so a true 25ml cup weighs 25g.

Fill to the brim

A jigger's stated size is brimful, with the surface level with the rim. A cup filled to just below the rim is short by more than it looks.

Use the inside lines

The marks inside a jigger are where most of its precision lives. Read them at eye level, with the jigger held level.

The small cup first

In a shared mixing tin, pour the cheap or small measures first. A mistake then costs a little syrup, not the spirit.

More on choosing one in the jigger guide and jigger or free pouring.

Reading an old recipe

Older books use measures that were never fixed, or that changed meaning. Where a size is a convention rather than a definition it says so; balance by the proportions, not by the volume.

Pony — about 30ml

One US fluid ounce in most American books. Older usage varies, so read it as a small measure, not an exact one.

Jigger (as a measure) — about 45ml

One and a half US ounces in modern American usage. The word also just means the tool, whatever its size.

Wineglass — about 60ml

In nineteenth-century American books, usually read as about 2oz. It has nothing to do with a modern wine glass.

Imperial gill = 142ml

Five imperial fluid ounces, a quarter of a pint. Old British pub spirit measures were fractions of it.

US gill = 118ml

Four US fluid ounces.

Part — any

A ratio, not a volume. Two parts gin to one part vermouth works in any measure, as long as every part is the same one.

Words that are not measures

Top / top up

Fill the glass to just below the rim. How much that is depends on the glass and the ice; the recipe's figure is a typical amount.

Splash

A small, unmeasured pour, usually 5–15ml. A recipe that cares about the amount gives one.

Float

A small pour, often 10–15ml, laid on the surface over the back of a spoon so it sits on top.

Rinse

Enough to coat the inside of the glass, with the excess poured away. What stays is a few drops.

Leaves, wedges, wheels, peels

Counted, not converted. CocktailHQ writes them as counts and never adds them to a drink's volume.

Bottles and how many pours they hold

Whole pours only, because the last one is never full. A cocktail rarely uses one spirit alone, so for a party the party calculator counts bottles from the actual recipes.

Measures in a UK bar

25ml or 35ml spirit

Gin, rum, vodka and whisky sold by the glass in the UK must be served in 25ml or 35ml measures or multiples of them; a pub chooses one and displays it.

125ml, 175ml, 250ml wine

Wine by the glass in the UK is sold in these quantities, and 125ml must be offered.

One UK unit

10ml (8g) of pure alcohol. A 25ml measure at 40% is one unit.

To turn a measure into units, use the alcohol units calculator; for the words recipes use, the glossary.