How big is a measure of spirits?

Blisterman

How big?

uberwolf

33ml?

Stark

30ml

tribble

Blisterman wrote:

How big?

Depends on what country you're in.

UK = 25ml

Ireland = 33.5ml (I THINK)

tribble

Yep ; I just googled - my figures are correct

Capt'n Midnight

AFAIR It used to be 1/4 gill and there were 6 fluid ounces in a gill in Ireland
English measures were smaller, but you could buy a pint and a measure for the same price as a pint back here. So it was free ! But that was a long time ago and google does not support the 6 fluid ounce gill in recent use..

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI37Y1979.html

3. In this Order—
"glass" means half-gill;
"half-glass" means quarter-gill;

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1936_8.html - Irish standards..

Eleven gun-metal cylindrical standards of bushel, half-bushel, peck, gallon, half-gallon, quart, pint, half-pint, gill, half-gill, and quarter-gill capacity respectively, and each marked with the capacity thereof, and the figures "1880" and the words "L. Oertling, London".

- so looks like we were using 5 ounces in the gill, and not 6 as it used to be before !

http://www.kc3.co.uk/~dt/euromyths.htm
In Ireland the Government simply altered the regulation so that the quarter gill was described as 35.5ml. Nothing had to be changed. (The Yardstick April 1997)

http://www.smws.com/archives/n.html

During the First World War, the Scots nip was reduced to one-fifth of a gill by the Central Liquor Control Board, while the standard English spirits measure was made one-sixth of a gill. A few avaricious publicans used the latter measure in Scotland to confuse customers and increase their profit; others returned to the old measure, when they were allowed to, including gentlemen’s clubs. “The true Scottish measure is half-gill or quarter-gill and such should be demanded. A good innkeeper will serve them. The half-gill is almost double one of the debased English doubles” (Ivor Brown, Summer in Scotland, 1952). This remained the situation until January 1995 when all measures went metric, so a nip is now 25mls (between one-fifth and one-sixth of a gill) and a glass is 35ml (which is less than a quarter of a gill).

So Irish measure of spirits = 1/4 Gill , Scottish 1/5 Gill and 1/6 Gill in England.


http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/volume.htm - 5 fl.oz = 1 gill

The gill is sometimes spelled jill. It appears in the nursery rhyme:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
When Charles I scaled down the "jack" (a two-ounce measure) so as to collect higher sales taxes, the jill, by definition twice the size of the jack, was automatically reduced also and "came tumbling after."

But this implies 4 fluid ounces in a Gill !



Handy conversion between US and UK imperial units (though it does only mentions one of three different lengths of feet used in the US so it not that accurate. ) - but note the UK Gill is 1.2 times the US one and that there now only 4 US fluid ounces in a US Gill .
http://www.gsu.edu/~oprdeb/measure/anglo-amer.html

Esel

35.5ml

Blisterman

I thought the measurements in England were smaller than Ireland.

woosaysdan

measures in england are generally smaller as for in ireland the standard is 35.5mls but the owner can set it to what ever size he wants i think!

Nasty_Girl

I sure could go for a shot of black rum after reading this....

bonkey

What always amuses me is that hte old terms were a glass (1/2 gill) and a half-glass (1/2 gill). Today, the equivalent is "single" and "double" for the same measures.

So way back when...the glass was the normal. Today its the single.

jc

Blisterman

What's it in America?

otron

woosaysdan wrote:

measures in england are generally smaller as for in ireland the standard is 35.5mls but the owner can set it to what ever size he wants i think!

The majority of pubs in London have measures of 20ml, although some are now doing 40ml as a sorta "bigger measures" thing.

annette curtain

In the uk its 25 ml and in ireland its 33.3, trust us to be awkard with the .3 bit!

Blisterman

Probebly a conversion from imperial.