Do Americans use the furlong ?
What about the 'hand' (four inches) ?
Are the pint and the quart used? I assume the pint is ( the quart is never heard of in Britain) but how is beer on draft ordered ?

This post is prompted by a question from our 18 year-old. She asked her mother " What is a 'lub' ? " She was reading an old recipe book and had just encountered 'lb' for 'pound' for the first time in her life: it looks like 'lub' Yet she still uses the hand as a measure of a horse, so evidently not everything to her is metric yet. And the horseraces here are in miles and furlongs too.So we wondered about the USA and its measurements.

Furlongs and hands are still used here in regard to horses and racing. Beer is generally served on draught in 12 and 16 ounce glasses...some bars have "schooners" which vary from 22-28 ounces. You can still get 1/2 pints and pints of booze, but the larger bottles are now 750 ml, 1 l, and 1.75 l., replacing the older 4/5 quart, quart, and 1/2 gallon.

The size bottle used for spirits that was commonly called a fifth was 1/5 of a gallon, or 25.6 ounces.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
The size bottle used in spitits that was commonly called a fifth was 1/5 of a gallon, or 25.6 ounces.

American guide books and travel writers on Britain write of ordering 'a pint of ale' which is quaint (because nobody here ever talks of ale ) and which suggests that asking for a pint of draft beer in America is odd.It also tells us that some travel writers don't truly know the places they visit, but that's another, and universal, story.

So what are your measures for shots of spirits ? We used to have some mysterious unit called the gill. The single measure was one sixth of a gill. This translated into a smear at the bottom of the glass .The Scots thought ill of this and had one fifth of a gill as their legal single. We now have 25 centilitres instead.That's a bigger measure.

A curiosity was that the legal measure in pubs and bars was for whisky, whiskey, gin, vodka and rum but not for brandy. This must have been a question of class over glass. Only the rich would ask for brandy and that after dinner and not normally in a pub or bar.They would not take kindly to such a stingey measure. Brandy was poured by eye and what you got depended on the waiter

PS Do you tip bartenders? The Economist magazine says that businessmen visiting the States should always do so (and to the tune of $1 a drink, too !) Nobody here would think of that . They wouldn't in France but in France nobody tips waiters in restaurants either.

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which suggests that asking for a pint of draft beer in America is odd. It also tells us that some travel writers don't truly know the places they visit...

And perhaps not the place they're writing for either. Pints are pretty common over here, although they are smaller than your pints. Some bars do sell "Imperial pints" as well.

Like Juan said, US draft beer is generally sold in 12 oz. (same as a typical bottle or can) or 16 oz. (US pint) glasses. Of course, there are also pitchers (varies somewhat, but around 60 oz.) and all sorts of other sizes can occasionally be found. A bar I used to frequent largely sold by the quart in a mini-pitcher intended for one person.


Yes, we tip bartenders (it seems to me that a much greater variety of people are tipped in the US than in most other countries).

A shot at a US bar is 1.5 ounces.

To confuse matters slightly, one US ounce = 1.0408 UK ounces!

Other bartending measures from webtender.com

In the midwest, at least in taverns rather than clubs, a shot is equal to one ounce. Many shot glasses are larger, but have a line at the one ounce level; that way, pouring a bit over the line and doing so where the customer could see, made the customer feel like he was getting more. Special glasses could be bought with the line at 7/8 ounces, too. Most mixed drinks contain an ounce of alchol, unless in a high-priced location (usually priced at least 300% of what a neighborhood bar would charge), where a shot is may be closer to 1.5 ounces, but never over that amount. Cocktails usually have more than an ounce of the main spirit.

I worked a great many years in the hospitality industry. Customers pay for location and decor, and, of course, customers pay as much as the owner thinks he can charge. About two blocks away from my house is a neighborhood tavern that has been in existence since at least Prohibition. A 10 ounce glass of beer is up to $1.25, and a frozen 15 ounce mug (or stein) is $1.50. Tacos are now a dollar, and only sold on Saturday nights, when about 1500 are sold.

While wholesale prices of liquor can vary from state to state, most of the liquor taxes are federal, and, thus, the price an on-premise location pays is about the same, with discounts, of course, for larger purchases. Without the volume discount, which is never a large discount unless the buyer is a chain in the same state, a liter of Jack Daniels© will cost your local bar about $22.50* or a bit less. Using 33.8 ounces per liter (not the 34 that webtender uses), each ounce cost the bar 66.57¢. The soda mix will cost no more than 15¢. Drink up! Enjoy!


* A friend used to own the largest liquor store in Illinois south of the Chicago area, and another friend still manages the place. I got my wholesale cost from him.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

10 ozs (Dad, what's an OZ ? Is it something to do with Oz meaning Australia? ) sounds like it might be a half -pint (confusingly called 'a glass' of beer in Ireland but simply 'a half'in England. The glass itself is called a 'pony glass' in England ). Nobody here talks of fluid ounces,nor ever did.

Tipping a barman, eh? .Best be warned by the Economist then ! As an aside , we can look forward to a lot of enriched bar staff down here in Cannes next week. It's the Film Festival. A lot of tourists don't know anyway that nobody tips waiters or bar staff in France. The service charge is in the bill and it's illegal not to declare it on all bills and in all prices. No staff can ever seek, or be seen to be hoping, for a tip but they won't be refusing American movie types who believe otherwise,at least during the Festival .
A 'shot' would be 1/6 or 1/5 of a gill, now 25cl,as I said above, but always called a 'single'. It bis quite common to order a 'double'

Elsewhere I asked about pub 'optics'. That's a measure fixed to the bottle which itself is on a rack on the wall. It is operated by the barman pushing the glass up against it.It then dispenses a shot. The device has a large magnifying lens in front so customers can see that the full measure is given. Is this gadget not seen in the USA ? Only posh bars, such as cocktail bars and top hotel bars, here (Britain ) have none. Malt whisky is sold everywhere by using a measuring cup though.
Optics to fit to a bottle which is to be poured normally are available for domestic use but most guests would think the host a tightwad if he used one

Nothwithstanding that Britain leads the world in binge drinking and in "legless" young women of an evening. A group of girls out for a good time can be quite an unnerving spectacle !

We have both the kind with overturned bottles and the kind that measures each time you actually pour out of the bottle. (They come in different sizes, pouring 1/2, 3/4, 7/8, 1, 1.25, etc. ounces. The kind I used were called "Posi- pours." They replaced the more familiar pourers.) But I haven't seen the kind that has any type of magnification.

No wonder South Carolina stuck to the "mini bottle" concept for so long. Its politicians wanted to make sure they were getting drunk in the bars.

Fuse, you wouldn't believe what is available to bar owners. Some examples -

A squarish whiskey bottle, with white flowery cursive scripe on a black label. The brand name was "Jake Donald's" but it was hard to read even if you were holding it.


Vodika & Tequaila - These two cost the bar about 8¢ an ounce, at a time that the cheapest vodka and tequila were just over 15¢ an ounce. Both were 60° liquors with the appropriate base.

A bar could even have its own label created very cheaply. It was a good looking label, and all the correct buzz words on it, but inside was cheap booze. Since you could rightly claim that it as made to your specifications, however, you could get premium prices.

Distillers also get in the act. For decades, and possibly still, Jack Daniels label had the number 7 featured on it. Most people thought it meant 7 years old. It didn't. Jack Daniels had no age listed on the bottle, which meant that, like the cheap brands that also had no age, it only had to meet minimum age standards. It was 4 years old, the legal federal minimum.

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:

Distillers also get in the act. For decades, and possibly still, Jack Daniels label had the number 7 featured on it. Most people thought it meant 7 years old. It didn't. Jack Daniels had no age listed on the bottle, which meant that, like the cheap brands that also had no age, it only had to meet minimum age standards. It was 4 years old, the legal federal minimum.

The label on Jack Daniel's whiskey bears the legend " Old No 7 Brand", printed in a medallion in the centre . According to the company's website nobody knows why he named it No 7 Brand but it has been so since he started distilling it . So that is not misleading and the company can say that they are not answerable to people who don't read it properly.

However the same site has the statement on its opening page, " We wait until your whiskey is just the right age". If, in fact, they only wait the minimum time required by law, and no longer, then the claim is apparently misleading advertising as it seems to be suggesting that they exercise some professional judgment, taste and skill in ageing the whiskey to a degree to please the customers . If all they are doing is the minimum required by law or face prosecution then the statement is redundant and hardly worthy of front page exposure

PS I put 25 centilitres as a British shot. Sorry to disappoint any metrically -minded boozers who may be rushing to visit our pubs but it was a typo for millilitres. Our kids get drunk, but not because they are taking half-pint shots of spirits

"The label on Jack Daniel's whiskey bears the legend " Old No 7 Brand", printed in a medallion in the centre . According to the company's website nobody knows why he named it No 7 Brand but it has been so since he started distilling it . So that is not misleading and the company can say that they are not answerable to people who don't read it properly."

I was not questioning the legality of what they do; I was just pointing out that they certainly take advantage of the fact that people see what they are used to seeing, and, coupled with the fact that most whiskey sold in the US that has anything above the minimum age displays that age prominently, people assume that it is seven years old. I have won many bar bets betting that Jack Daniels does not state the age of its product on the label.