A shot glass is a small glass designed to hold or measure spirits or liquor, which is either drunk straight from the glass ("a shot") or poured into a mixed drink.
Shot glasses decorated with a wide variety of toasts, advertisements, and humorous pictures are popular souvenirs and collectibles.
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According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "shot glass" first appeared in print in The New York Times during the 1940s, but in fact several examples exist from the 1930s,[1][2] however although it was used by some,[3][4] the term apparently did not come into common usage until much later.
Many references from the 1800s describe giving a jigger of whiskey or rum to workers who were digging canals. Most shot glasses are found in the United States, but shot glasses from before the 1940s are very rare.[5]
Before Prohibition, thin-sided whiskey glasses were common. After Prohibition, these were replaced by shot glasses with a thick base and thick sides.
Because the word shot also means dose, or small amount it may simply be that these small glasses are called shot glasses because they hold small amounts. However there are a range of more complex stories about the origin of the style of glass, and its name. Few of them stand up to much scrutiny - either they place the origin decades before the term appeared in print, or they describe an item that had nothing to do with drinking liquor:
The most popular origin story is that the shot glass originated in the Western saloons of the Old West. The story explains that the cowboys of the old west would trade a cartridge (bullet plus powder and primer encased in brass) for a small amount of alcohol.
Another origin story is that a shot glass was a glass used at the dinner table for diners to place any lead shot they found left during the meal.
Another story ties the origin of the shot glass to the use of quill pens. According to this story, the term shot glass was coined over 100 years ago, describing a small, thick-walled glass placed on a writing desk, and filled with small lead shot. A feather writing quill would be placed in the glass when not in use, and the lead shot would hold the quill upright. An upright quill was more easily removed from the glass.
Certain fraternal organizations such as Freemasons have a custom of drinking toasts from specially shaped glasses known as cannons or firing glasses,[6] which are slammed on the table making a sound like a gunshot – a firing glass then becomes a shot glass. The firing glass is much older than the shot glass, and has a very specific shape with relatively thin sides, and a very thick protruding base.[7]
This theory argues that the word shot was originally spelled Schott, and named after Friedrich Otto Schott who co-founded the glassworks factory Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Genossen in Jena, Germany in 1884.[8] This Jena glass has been theorized as the origin of the first Schott Glass and the source of the name, which was later, in the U.S., mutated to Shot Glass and the origin of the word forgotten.
Most countries have standard definitions of single and double shot sizes (which are not always in a 2 to 1 ratio):
| Country | Small | Single | Double | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | 50 mL | 100 mL | ||
| Australia | 30 mL | 60 mL | Single shot is sometimes called a nip. At 30 mL, a typical spirit with 40% alcohol is roughly equivalent to one Australian standard drink.[9] | |
| Bulgaria | 50 mL | 100 mL | ||
| Canada | Pony shot or 28.41 mL (1 ounce[10]) | 1 shot or 42.61 mL (1.5 ounces) | 71 mL (2.5 ounces) | In Canada, a "shot" generally refers to the province's definition of a "Standard Drink" under liquor licences. Although sizes may vary, most provinces cite amounts similar to Ontario's guidelines of 0.6 ounces or 17 mL of pure alcohol; since a "shot" is typically a spirit with 40% alcohol, this makes the shot 1.5 oz or 42.62 mL (though many establishments serve a lower "standard drink" of only 1 oz)[11]. A double shot in North America may be either 2.5 or 3.0 fl oz.[12] A smaller 1.0 fl oz shot is usually referred to as a pony shot or short shot.[13] |
| Croatia | 30 mL | 60 mL | ||
| Czech Republic | 20 mL | 40 or 50 mL | 80 or 100 mL | The most common single shot used to be 50 mL but recently it has become 40 mL. |
| Denmark | 20 mL | 40 mL | ||
| Estonia | 40 mL | 80 mL | ||
| Finland | 40 mL | 80 mL | In Finland, the maximum amount of strong alcohol restaurants are allowed to serve is regulated by law to one 40 mL portion at a time per customer. Doubles cannot be legally served. | |
| Germany | 20 mL | 40 mL | In Germany, shot glasses (German: Schnapsglas, Pintchen, Stamperl) are smaller. | |
| Hungary | 20 or 30 mL | 40 or 50 mL | 80 or 100 mL | In Hungarian, shot glasses are called felespohár ("feles" meaning "half", standing for 0.5 dL), pálinkáspohár (for pálinka), kupica, or stampedli. |
| India | 30 mL | 60 mL | A 90 mL shot in India is called a Patiala Peg | |
| Ireland | 35.5 mL | 71 mL | ||
| Israel | 30 mL | 50 or 60 mL | In Israel, the common word for a small shot is "צ'ייסר" ("Chaser"). | |
| Italy | 30 mL | 40 or 60 mL | In Italy, the common word for a shot is "cicchetto". In North Italy the "cicchetto" is the most common way to taste grappa from at least two centuries | |
| Kazakhstan | 50 mL | 100 mL | In Russia, Kazakhstan, and other CIS (former Soviet) states there is also a larger бокал (glass or goblet), which usually contains 200–300 mL. | |
| New Zealand | 15 mL | 30 mL | ||
| Poland | 25 mL | 50 mL | 100 mL | To take a single shot in Polish slang is to take po pięćdziesiątce, meaning take 50 (50 mL). |
| Russia | 50 mL | 100 mL | A double shot in Russian is called стопка meaning a stack; it also alludes to the number 100. | |
| Serbia | 30 mL | 50–60 mL | A single shot is traditionally known in the Serbian language as чашица за ракију, meaning small glass for rakija, or simply as мера - мерица, meaning measure. A double shot is simply called Дупли, meaning a double. | |
| Sweden | 20 mL | 40 mL | 60 mL | |
| Slovakia | 20 or 25 mL | 40 or 50 mL | 80 or 100 mL | The most common single shot size is the pol deci (literally, half a decilitre, 50 mL). |
| Slovenia | 30 mL | 60 mL | ||
| South Africa | 25 mL | The South African government has an official definition for the single shot size. | ||
| South Korea | 60 mL | |||
| Turkey | 1 finger | 2 fingers | 4 fingers | |
| United Kingdom | 25 or 35 mL | 50 or 70 mL | Shots sold on-premises must contain either 25 mL or 35 mL measures of whisky, gin, rum, or vodka, as defined in the Weights and Measures Act of 1985. This requirement does not extend to other spirits. A 2001 amendment allowed a double shot of 70 mL to be served. Generally, a single measure is equal to 35ml in Northern Ireland and 25ml in the rest of Britain.[14] | |
| United States | 1.0 US fl oz (30 mL) | 1.5 US fl oz (44 mL) | 3.0 US fl oz (89 mL) | There is no standard size for a single shot, except in Utah, where a shot is defined at 1.5 fl oz.[15] Elsewhere in the U.S., the standard size is generally considered to be 1.25–1.5 fl oz.[16][17] |
A jigger or measure is a bartending tool used to measure liquor, which is typically then poured into a cocktail shaker. It is named for the unit of liquid it typically measures, 1.5 fluid ounce (~44 ml) jigger or shot.[18] However bar jiggers come in other sizes and may not actually measure a fluid jigger.
A traditional style of jigger is made of stainless steel with two unequal sized opposing cones in an hourglass shape on the end of a rod. Typically, one cone measures a regulation single shot, and the other some fraction or multiple - with the actual sizes depending on local laws and customs.
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