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Any bartender or bar manager can tell you, understanding different liquor bottle sizes is key to ensuring a properly made drink. However, not every size is one you use every day, so it can be very confusing trying to figure out what to use and how to convert them.
The pint is one of the biggest offenders here. Other than liquor, ice cream is generally the only other item you’ll ever purchase in the format.
To help clear things up, keep reading to learn all about pints and how to convert them to other measurements to suit your needs.
How Big Is a Pint?
How to define a pint varies by region, but in general, a pint is 16 US fluid ounces or 20 British imperial ounces. This distinction is important because British imperial units tend to be the same for both dry and wet ingredients. This is not the case with American measurements, so you can greatly ruin a drink by using the wrong measuring tool. Make sure you have good bartender tools that you use daily and it will become second nature.
A pint is one of the most common sizes for serving beer in nearly every country. The pint is the weeknight warrior of the liquor sizes group. Heading out to bars after work, talking all about their crazy night the next morning. A pint is also the key to properly pour a beer.
Below are the ml, ounces, and shots in a pint.
How Many ML In a Pint?
A pint is 473 mLs. More often found as a serving size than a bottle size, there are of course pint bottles out there. Both for beer and liquor. More likely, you’ll be buying your liquor in a 750 mL size, or a fifth. This means another good comparison is that a pint is about 60% of a fifth. the standard alcohol bottle size and what you'll most use for well liquor. It’s also called a fith of alcohol and is the most common size you'll see in online liquor sales.
If you need to manually calculate this conversion for your own recipes, you can use this formula:
mL = Pint x 473.176473
How Many Ounces in a Pint?
There are 16 ounces in a pint. If you've gone to bartending school or have your bartender license, this should be burned in your brain because you’ll be using both measurements day in and day out.
Remembering our point above about the difference between US and British units, a US pint is 1/5 smaller than the imperial pint. This makes a British pint equal to 20 ounces. If you want to run an authentic British pub, you’ll need to invest in different glassware. A British pint won’t fit into a smaller American pint glass. There is some leeway here, though. So test out your equipment before you decide what you’re offering.
How Many Shots In a Pint?
A pint has about 10 and a half 1.5-ounce shots in it. A 1.5-ounce shot is the most common pour, but you may also offer double or triple shots in your business. Any shot over 2 ounces is considered a double. This applies to cocktails made as doubles, too. Read more about standard liquor pours and standard wine pours. This way you can make your most popular cocktail recipes with ease. We've also got a great resource that'll help you figure out how many beers in a keg, too.
How Many Pints Per Gallon?
There are 9 pints in a gallon. Though far less common in a bar environment, gallons are commonly used for liquid measurements in the US, so knowing how to convert between the two can be very useful. This is also true if you purchase any liquids or sauces in bulk, as gallons are often cheaper to purchase and split on the premises, rather than buying multiple pints or quarts. This is similar to a handle of liquor, where you'll buy bottles of that size, but not pour that way.
Is A Quart Bigger Than A Pint?
Yes, a quart is twice the size of a pint. A quart is 32 fluid ounces or one-quarter of a gallon. Quarts are used most often for measuring and selling non-alcoholic drinks, but it’s a valuable measurement to understand for making some of the drinks every bartender should know. It will also be useful if the bar staff and kitchen staff need to work together on anything.
Pint Abbreviation
The abbreviation for pint is pt. However, very few recipes or bartenders ever use the abbreviation. That’s because pint is such a short word that it’s fairly unnecessary. If you’re comfortable using the abbreviation, do so, but it might be simpler not to. Keep this in mind when creating new recipes for spring cocktails, summer cocktails, fall cocktails, and winter cocktails.
Frequently Asked Questions About How Many Ounces In a Pint
Beyond these measurements, there are plenty of other things to note about pints. From the discovery of full pints in the Lord of the Rings to classic British pubs and their pints, there's plenty of interest about everything to do with pints. A few common questions include:
What are Pint Glasses Used For?
Pint glasses are typically used for beer. From lager to pale ales to to pilsners to brown ale, any beer is well served in a pint glass. That said, pint glasses are also commonly used for ciders.
What are Other Names For a Pint Glass?
Pint glasses are also often simply called beer glasses. If you were to order a beer at a bar, you'd almost certainly be given it in a pint, as the two are pretty synonymous. There are also different names when it comes to American and English pints. The American pint glass is also often called a Shaker glass, while English pints also go by the name Imperial or Nonic. Whatever you call it, these glasses are ideal for serving some great beer.
Why Is It Called a Pint?
The word pint comes from an old French word: pinte. The word may have originally come from an old Latin word, pincta, which means "painted." This origin makes sense when you think of the painting of the outside of a glass to mark measurements, as the term pint is, first and foremost, a measurement. These days it's often a marker of a measurement of, you guessed it, beer.
Are You Looking For A Pint?
Pints are a measurement you’ll need to get used to if you’re looking into how to become a bartender. Nearly all beers will be served in a pint glass, but there are also a few other cocktails and mixed drinks that will also call for the measurement.
To make things a lot easier, you can always add a chart of all the most common liquor and wine bottle sizes to a bartender cheat sheet and keep it behind the bar. Customers would rather you take extra time to look at the sheet than serve them a poorly poured drink.