Updated April 2026.
Say the bottle (or the well), then the serve: neat, rocks, whiskey-soda, or an Old Fashioned. That is bartender English. A common US shot is 1.5 oz — about 44 mL — and at 40% that is one NIAAA standard drink. There is no federal shot-size law. Doubles and free-pours add ounces. Count them. Math, not a challenge. No invented mixologist quotes.
Pour size already on disk: how many ml is a shot. A leftover Old Fashioned build: Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned. Cocktail pair, not a crown: Manhattan vs Old Fashioned. Class pours: how to drink bourbon, how to drink rye.
Call the bottle, then the glass
A busy well does not need a tasting-panel speech. Name the whiskey if you have one. If you do not, “well bourbon” or “well rye” is a real order. Then name the serve. Neat is the spirit in a glass, no ice, no mixer. Rocks is the spirit over ice. A whiskey-soda is 1.5 oz whiskey plus soda water — the mixer is 0%. An Old Fashioned is whiskey, sugar, bitters, ice, citrus if the house builds it that way. Those four lines are bar English. They are not TTB classes.
Proof is a label number, not a dare. US proof is twice ABV (27 CFR 5.65). Leftover whiskey proof meaning and 100-proof whiskey already walk that column. A 1.5 oz pour at 40% is 1.00 drink. At 45% it is 1.13. At 50% it is 1.25. A 2 oz “house pour” at 40% is 1.33 drinks. Count ounces × ABV. Do not treat a rocks glass as a 1.5 oz guarantee.
| Order / serve | What the bar hears | Std drinks |
|---|---|---|
| Whiskey neat | Spirit only; no ice | 1.00 at 40% / 1.5 oz |
| Whiskey rocks | Spirit over ice | Same ounces; ice dilutes taste |
| Whiskey-soda | 1.5 oz whiskey + 0% soda | 1.00 at 40% |
| Old Fashioned | Whiskey + sugar + bitters | Count the whiskey ounces |
| US shot (common) | 1.5 oz / ~44 mL — custom, not a federal pour law | 1.00 at 40% |
| Double / 2 oz | House pour, not a “shot” | 1.33 at 40% |
Math a bartender already uses
NIAAA (December 2025): one US standard drink is 0.6 fl oz of ethanol — 1.5 oz of 40% spirits. A 750 mL 40% bottle is about 17 drinks. Four 1.5 oz 40% pours are four drinks. That is inventory, not a night plan. UK pub specified quantities for whisky are 25 mL or 35 mL. That is a different country. Do not mix the two when you translate a recipe. The leftover shot page already prints the 44.36 mL conversion.
Up means chilled and strained, no ice left in the glass — a Manhattan is often served that way. A twist is a citrus peel, not the juice. A chaser is a second glass. None of those rewrite the whiskey ounces. Cask strength is a neck number, not a secret menu. If the label is 60%, a 1.5 oz pour is 1.50 drinks. Read it. We will not invent a dram as 1/8 oz and we will not invent “short = 100 mL.” Unused 2022 folklore.
Bourbon, rye, Tennessee, Irish, and Scotch are different classes. Bourbon is 27 CFR 5.143 — United States, ≥51% corn, new charred oak. Rye is the same table with ≥51% rye. Scotch is Table 2, Scotland. Irish is Table 2, Ireland. You can still order any of them neat or rocks. The class does not pick the glass. Heat and dilution: leftover how to make whiskey taste better.
What the 2022 URL added
The recovered page stacked shaken, stirred, dram, short, and “healthy ounces a day.” Unused. Health-claim crowns are out of scope. Driving clocks unused. No fake 24-hour research line. No invented mixologist quotes.
What we will not print
- No invented shot-size statute for the United States. 1.5 oz is custom / NIAAA math.
- No 100 mL “short.” No 1/8 oz dram lock.
- No health-claim daily ounce. No driving hour.
- No 2026 MSRP. No #1 well ranking.
Sources
- NIAAA standard drink, December 2025 — 1.5 oz of 40% spirits = one drink.
- Leftover how many ml is a shot — 1.5 US fl oz ≈ 44 mL; no federal shot law.
- 27 CFR 5.143 whisky types; 27 CFR 5.65 alcohol content as % ABV. Old 100 mL / dram folklore unused.