Talk:Fifth (unit)

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I'm just noticing in Taiwan that the last few bottles of whiskey and brandy I've bought are 700ml. I am not sure if this is new here, or ... ? 59.115.204.3 (talk) 09:37, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Note that the bottle shown in not actually a FIFTH since it is 750ml and not 757ml (or equivalent).Symulation (talk) 22:58, 29 October 2015 (UTC)


 * I actually HAVE a few decades-old "fifths" in my basement,not sure I can provide a photo for more accurate illustration...12.144.5.2 (talk) 04:04, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Commercial quart
A fifth was at one time called a "commercial quart", not a "short quart." I'm taking out the reference to "quart" because that term is long out of use and just confuses things. Also the cited sources do not support "was a common legal threshold for the difference between selling by the drink and selling by the bottle or at wholesale", that part is WP:OR. But I'm going to leave it in for now. Kendall-K1 (talk) 19:57, 29 July 2017 (UTC)

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Size of Scotch Whisky Bottles
Para 1 says:
 * A fifth is a unit of volume formerly used for wine and distilled beverages in the United States, equal to one fifth of a US liquid gallon, ​4⁄5 quart, or 25 3⁄5 US fluid ounces (757 ml); it has been superseded by the metric bottle size of 750 mL, sometimes called a metric fifth, which is the standard capacity of wine bottles worldwide and is approximately 1% smaller.
 * The standard glass bottle industry came into being in the 17th century when English businessman George Ravenscroft discovered in 1676 how to produce lead glass on a large scale. The invention of the automatic glass bottle blowing machine in 1880 industrialized the process of making bottles.
 * The standard diameter of glass bottles for alcohol is 7.5-8.0 cm. Glass blowers in Scotland found they could blow a bottle with a capacity of 26.5-27.0 Imperial fluid ounces(fl oz). This worked out to ~14 fingers in height when laid parallel to the ground/table. Most bottles of that era were thus 26.5-26.75 Imperial fl oz. or 752-760 ml. After metrication, allowing a few ml for spillage/evaporation, each bottle was taken to hold 750 ml of spirit. One finger width was discounted for the neck of the bottle, leaving 13 fingers or 26 drams.
 * Moitraanak (talk) 17:18, 25 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the info. The Bottlestore infographic isn't a reliable source, and anyway doesn't say anything about the capacity of glass bottles. What is "Toso2000"? The Ebottles site isn't a reliable source, and again says nothing about bottle capacities. The Vigilant Inc. site again is not a reliable source, and says nothing about the history of bottle capacities, only current bottle sizes. The final comment about a finger width isn't sourced. So I'm afraid there isn't anything we can use there.
 * It would be great to learn more about the history of bottle sizes in Britain. Can you find sources for it? Thanks! --Macrakis (talk) 21:55, 25 June 2020 (UTC)