Thursday, June 7, 2012

Let's Measure Some Booze...!

The other day we talked about the measurements of time, so I kinda wanted to do the same thing with booze.

There are many, many old and unusual measurements used for alcohol, some of which are still in use today. I have heard of many of these, but i had no idea of what most of them were to be honest!

Alcohol

Volumes of alcohol had their own particular names. In Northern England, as well as being a small horse, a pony was two mouthfuls of fluid, or 30mL. Today, a shot of spirits is sometimes called a ‘pony shot’ after this, although shots are not standardized and their volumes vary greatly. 

Much of the system that was used in old times was based on combining doubles of jackpots. A jackpot was 74mL. Two jackpots made a gill, two gills made a cup, two cups made a pint, two pints made a quart, two quarts made a pottle, two pottles made a gallon, two gallons made a peck, two pecks made a pail, two pails made a bushel, two bushels made a strike, two strikes made a coomb, two coombs made a cask, two casks made a barrel, and two barrels made a hogshead. Phew! Hog’s Head Inn from Harry Potter is named after this volume of alcohol, about 250L.

A more recent alcohol volume measurement is the bottles worth, which is equal to a standard bottle of champagne (750mL).

Kind of confusing, isn't it? If you could memorize all these different measurements and quote them on demand, just think how you could impress folks at the next get-together! Only thing is, you would probably need to be sober to do it! Know what I mean?

Let's have coffee on the patio this morning. You can help me do a rain dance!

13 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Interesting!

Momlady said...

Very interesting!

Phyllis (N/W Jersey) said...

Too confusing ...I'll stick to coffee measured in pots and cups! We have had rain every afternoon - would like to see one full day of sunshine. Our garden is a soggy mess!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for that table of measurements, I recognize some of those terms, but a whole lot of 'whazzat?' information. The look on a waiter's face when asked 'Would you please bring two gills of chilled water in a glass?' would be priceless.

johnnyb said...

It's easier to just say, "Bring the bottle and throw away the cork!"

linda m said...

Interesting subject today. You are right about being sober to to try and quote this at a get together. I don't think I could even remember it then, haha!

Ben in Texas said...

Shoot,just pour me another cuppa coffee and we'll discuss this later. OK?

BTW, I went out and did my rain rain go away dance. Let me know if it works. :-)

JO said...

I'll just stick to my coffee its much easier to ask for a cup.

HermitJim said...

Hey Gorges...
It is...in a strange sort of way!

Thanks for the visit this morning!


Hey Momlady...
Bet you already knew all of this, didn't ya?

You have a great day and thanks for coming over today!


Hey Phyllis...
I'm with you on the coffee measurements!

We are getting to the point where we need some rain!

Thanks for the visit!


Hey Anon 6:47...
I can't help but smile when I envision the waiter's face! It would be fun, for sure!

Thanks for dropping by today!


Hey John...
Short and to the point! That way there is no confusion!

Thanks for coming by today, my friend!


Hey Linda...
Folks would probably think you had been drinking if you could spout it all out from memory!

Think I'll stick to the coffee!

Thanks for the visit this morning!


Hey Ben...
I wanted the rain to come, not go away!

At least it's a bit cooler this morning!

Thanks, buddy, for dropping in!


Hey JoJo...
That it is, and I have more coffee on hand than booze!

I appreciate the visit, sweetie!

Dizzy-Dick said...

You forget the best one, "much". In, "I don't drink much." Of course depending on the person, that amount could be a variable. . .

HermitJim said...

Hey Dizzy...
One of my all time favorites is "I don't drink anymore, but then I don't drink any less, either!"

Thanks for coming over today!

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

HJ, agree with previous comments on HOW confusing these measurements sounded. Hope you got some rain.

HermitJim said...

Hey Beatrice...
Guess since it's about booze, it's meant to be confusing.

No rain yet, but I'm still hoping!

Thanks for coming over!