Appendix B : Quick Reference Measurements & Conversions

Quick Reference Measurements & Conversions

There's a specific moment of frustration that every home bartender experiences: you're following a recipe that calls for "3 parts gin, 1 part vermouth," but your jigger measures in ounces, your European cocktail book uses milliliters, and you're not entirely sure what a "part" even means. Or you're trying to figure out how many Margaritas you can make from that 750ml bottle of tequila, and the math feels unnecessarily complicated for someone who just wants to serve drinks to friends without running out halfway through the party.

Bartending uses multiple measurement systems simultaneously—imperial ounces, metric milliliters, imprecise "parts," historical "pony" measures, and approximate "dashes." Different countries favor different units. Old recipes use measurements that no longer exist. Modern recipes assume you know that a "standard pour" means something specific. And meanwhile, you're standing at your bar with ingredients in hand, wondering if you should be doing arithmetic or just eyeballing it.

This appendix exists to eliminate that confusion. It's not meant to be read cover to cover—it's a reference tool you keep bookmarked or printed near your bar. When you encounter an unfamiliar measurement, you look it up here. When you need to convert a recipe from metric to imperial or calculate how many drinks you can make from a bottle, you find the relevant chart. This is the mathematical infrastructure that supports everything else in this encyclopedia, condensed into the most useful format possible.

Quick Start: The Five Conversions You'll Use Constantly

1 oz = 30 ml (actually 29.57, but 30 is close enough for cocktails)

1 standard jigger = 1.5 oz = 45 ml

1 bar spoon = 1 teaspoon = 5 ml = 1/6 oz

1 dash = approximately 1/32 oz = 1 ml = 6-8 drops

750ml bottle = 25 oz = approximately 16-17 standard cocktails (at 1.5 oz spirit per drink)

Those five conversions handle 90% of measurement situations you'll encounter. Now for the comprehensive reference.

Standard Bar Measurements

Imperial (US) System

The United States uses ounces (oz) as the standard bartending measurement. Most American cocktail recipes and jiggers are calibrated in ounces or fractional ounces.

Common Jigger Configurations:

Metric System

Most of the world uses milliliters (ml) for liquid measurement. European and Asian cocktail recipes typically use metric. Many modern American recipes include both imperial and metric measurements.

Quick Mental Conversion: To convert ounces to milliliters: multiply by 30 To convert milliliters to ounces: divide by 30

Examples:

Parts System

Many recipes use "parts" rather than specific measurements. This system allows for flexibility—you can make a single drink or scale up for a punch using the same ratio.

How Parts Work: A "part" can be any consistent measurement unit. The ratio matters, not the absolute size.

Example: A 2:1:1 ratio could be:

Common Part Ratios:

Small and Imprecise Measurements

Certain ingredients—particularly bitters, tinctures, and other concentrated flavorings—use imprecise measurements because exact volumes matter less than approximate amounts.

Dash: Approximately 1/32 oz or 1 ml, roughly 6-8 drops depending on the bitters bottle and how vigorously you shake it. Most recipes calling for "a dash" are forgiving—anywhere from 4-10 drops will work.

Drop: Individual drop from a dropper or dasher bottle. Even more variable than dashes. Typically 5-8 drops = 1 dash.

Bar Spoon: Approximately 1 teaspoon (5 ml or 1/6 oz). This is surprisingly consistent across bar spoons because the bowl size is standardized. See Chapter 43 for other bar spoon uses.

Teaspoon (tsp): 5 ml or 1/6 oz. Standard kitchen measurement.

Tablespoon (tbsp): 15 ml or 0.5 oz. Three teaspoons equal one tablespoon.

Splash: Vague term meaning a small pour, typically 0.25 to 0.5 oz. Recipes using "splash" are inherently imprecise—adjust to taste.

Rinse: A very small amount of spirit (typically absinthe or other aromatic) swirled to coat the inside of a glass, then discarded. Usually 0.25 oz or less, with most being discarded.

Historical Measurements

Older cocktail books use measurements that have fallen out of common use but still appear in historical recipes.

Pony: 1 oz. No longer commonly used, but you'll see it in pre-Prohibition recipes.

Jigger (historical): 1.5 oz. Now refers to the measuring tool rather than a specific amount, but historically meant a specific pour size.

Gill: 4 oz. Rarely used in modern bartending but common in 19th-century recipes.

Wine Glass: Approximately 2 oz in historical recipes. Modern wine glasses hold much more, so don't use actual wine glasses when adapting old recipes.

Pint: 16 oz. Sometimes used for punch recipes or large-format drinks.

Bottle Sizes and Yields

Understanding bottle sizes helps with purchasing decisions and calculating how many drinks you can make for parties.

Standard Bottle Sizes

750 ml - Standard bottle size for spirits in the US and most of the world

1 Liter (1000 ml) - Common for some spirits and liqueurs

375 ml - Half bottle or "pint"

50 ml - Mini or "nip"

1.75 Liters - Handle or "half gallon"

Calculating Drinks Per Bottle

The Basic Formula: Bottle size (in oz) ÷ Spirit amount per cocktail (in oz) = Number of cocktails

Example: 750ml bottle = 25 oz Margarita uses 2 oz tequila 25 ÷ 2 = 12.5 Margaritas per bottle

Important Considerations:

Practical Bottle Yield Chart

For 750ml (25 oz) bottles:

Pour Size Drinks Per Bottle Common Uses
0.75 oz 33 Half-pours, low-ABV cocktails
1 oz 25 Highballs, multi-spirit cocktails
1.25 oz 20 Standard pours in many bars
1.5 oz 16-17 Standard cocktail recipe pours
2 oz 12-13 Spirit-forward cocktails, neat pours
2.5 oz 10 Martinis, generous cocktails

Batch Scaling Conversions

When preparing cocktails for parties (see Chapter 23), you need to scale recipes up. These conversions help calculate batch quantities.

Singles to Batch Conversion

For 10 servings: Multiply each ingredient by 10 For 20 servings: Multiply by 20

Example - Margarita for 10:

Cup Conversions for Batching

When scaling to large batches, cups become more practical than ounces.

Ounces to Cups:

Example Batch Calculation: Making 20 Daiquiris (2 oz rum, 1 oz lime, 0.75 oz simple per drink)

Dilution for Batches

Pre-batched cocktails need added water to compensate for missing ice dilution. See Chapter 23 for detailed technique, but here's the quick reference:

Add 20-25% water by volume to shaken cocktails Add 30-40% water by volume to stirred cocktails

Example: Batch of 20 Daiquiris = 75 oz total liquid Add 15-19 oz water (20-25%) Final batch = 90-94 oz to serve

Ice Quantities

Ice is an ingredient (see Chapter 3), and knowing how much you need prevents mid-party disasters.

Ice Volume Guidelines

Per cocktail:

Per person for a party:

Practical Party Calculation:

Ice Bag Sizes:

Ice Cube Counts

Standard refrigerator ice maker cubes:

Large cube (2-inch cube):

Ice sphere (2.5-inch diameter):

Proof and ABV Conversions

Understanding alcohol content matters for balancing cocktails and knowing what you're serving guests.

The Relationship

Proof = ABV × 2 (in the US system)

Common Spirit Proofs:

Cocktail ABV Calculation

To calculate final ABV of a mixed drink:

(Total alcohol volume ÷ Total liquid volume) × 100 = ABV%

Example - Margarita:

This is approximate because dilution varies, but it's useful for understanding drink strength.

Temperature Conversions

Temperature matters for proper chilling (see Chapter 20) and hot cocktails.

Freezer temperature: 0°F (-18°C) Refrigerator temperature: 35-38°F (2-3°C) Room temperature: 68-72°F (20-22°C) Optimal serving temp for stirred cocktails: 20-25°F (-7 to -4°C) Optimal serving temp for shaken cocktails: 15-20°F (-9 to -7°C) Hot toddy serving temperature: 140-160°F (60-71°C)

Weight Conversions (for Sugar and Ingredients)

Sometimes recipes specify sugar by weight rather than volume, particularly in professional contexts.

Granulated sugar:

For simple syrup (1:1 ratio):

Quick Mental Math for the Bar

The Half-and-Double Method

When adjusting recipes on the fly:

The 30ml Rule

When converting between imperial and metric:

The Bottle Fraction Method

Quickly estimate remaining bottle quantity:

Practical Party Planning Numbers

These numbers help with purchasing and preparation for events.

Drinks per person estimates:

Example for 20 guests, 4-hour party:

Mixer quantities for 20 people:

Using This Reference

Keep this appendix accessible when you're actually making drinks—bookmark this page, print it out, or keep it on your phone. The goal isn't memorization; the goal is having accurate information immediately available when you need it.

Over time, you'll internalize the conversions you use most frequently. The 1 oz = 30 ml conversion becomes automatic. You'll know that a 750ml bottle yields about 16 cocktails without looking it up. The bar spoon = teaspoon equivalency becomes muscle memory. But until that happens, refer back here without hesitation.

The math in bartending isn't complicated—it's just unfamiliar if you're used to cooking rather than mixing drinks. Once you understand the relationships between these measurements and have this reference available, the numbers stop being obstacles and start being tools for precision and planning.

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