The Compendium of Bar Measurements and Terms, Part 2

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The Compendium of Bar Measurements and Terms, Part 2

-By Dr. Ron A. Ñejo

Small Measurements

Dash: for most drink recipes, a dash means 1/8 teaspoon; two dashes will thus fill a 1/4 teaspoon measure. Theoretically, a dash is the amount of liquid that squirts out of a bottle equipped with a dash stopper. Stoppers, however, vary in size, and to different liquor dispensers a dash means anything from three drops up. Dashes are meant to be small, because the liquid in question have strong flavors, so it is very important to be as accurate as possible. For example, if you are making Rum Punch for 16 people and you need 16 dashes of bitters, a little calculation will quickly tell you that you need two teaspoons of bitters, which is easier and more accurately measured by the teaspoon than by the dash.

• Teaspoon: 1/3 tablespoon, or 1/6 ounce. Use a measuring teaspoon, not a long-handled barspoon, which is designed for mixing rather than for measuring.

• Tablespoon: 3 teaspoons or 1/2 ounce.

• Pony: 1 ounce, or the small end of a double-ended measuring jigger. Also the usual capacity of the liqueur glass or the pousse-café glass.

• Gill: 4 ounces.

• Jigger: 1 1/2 ounces. Also called a bar-measuring glass, it ’s the standard measure for mixing individual drinks, though generous hosts use a 2-ounce jigger. Although jiggers are supposed to provide exact measurements, they’re sometimes grossly inaccurate, so it’s a good idea, if possible, to check any new jigger you buy with a lab measuring glass.

• Wineglass: used as a measuring term, it means 4 ounces, which is the old-fashioned wineglass filled to the brim. Though today wine is generally served in a much larger glass, “wineglass” as a 4-ounce measure still appears in some drink and food recipes.

• Split or Nip: 6 to 8 ounces. Eight ounces is 1/2 pint, or the contents of a standard measuring cup. One refers to a split of champagne, but the same quantity of stout beer is called a nip.

• Pint: 16 ounces; 1/2 quart; 2 standard measuring cups. Many bottles listed on bar menus as a pint of champagne or a pint of wine are actually half of a fifth, or 11 to 13 ounces.

• Fifth: 25.6 ounces; 4/5 quart; 1/5 gallon.

• Quart: 32 ounces; 2 pints; 4 measuring cups; 1/4 gallon.

Large Measurements

Balthazar: 416 ounces; about 3 1/3 gallons.

• Demijohn: from 1 to 10 gallons.

• Half Gallon: 64 ounces.

• Jeroboam: 104 ounces.

• Magnum: 52 ounces; the double-size champagne bottle.

• Methuselah: 208 ounces; about 1 3/5 gallons.

• Nebuchadnezzar: 520 ounces; about 4 gallons.

• Rehoboam: about 160 ounces, or 1 1/5 gallons.

• Salmanazar: 312 ounces; about 2 1/2 gallons.

• Tappit-hen: about 77 ounces, or 3 fifths.

Next month: Alcohol Strength