Direct answer · Bottle sizes

What is a fifth of alcohol?

750 ml

= 25.36 fl oz

≈ 17 shots · ≈ 5 glasses of wine

A "fifth" is the standard 750ml bottle of spirits — one-fifth of a gallon historically, now the default size on every liquor store shelf.

A fifth: the standard bottle of spirits

A fifth of alcohol is 750 milliliters — 25.36 fluid ounces — and it is the bottle size nearly every liquor brand leads with. The name is a leftover from the imperial era: a fifth was literally one-fifth of a US gallon, which is about 757ml. When the US and the rest of the world standardized on metric bottle sizes in the 1970s, distillers adopted 750ml as the closest sensible replacement, and the term "fifth" survived as barroom shorthand for the standard bottle.

The practical numbers matter more than the history. A 750ml bottle of 80-proof (40% ABV) spirit holds about 17 one-and-a-half-ounce shots — the amount the US defines as one standard drink. Poured at two ounces, which is common for cocktails and whiskey neat, that drops to about 16 pours. Either way, a fifth is roughly the size of a bottle of wine, and its 25 ounces is why a bartender can usually stretch one bottle across a whole evening of mixed drinks.

Knowing what a fifth costs and how far it goes is the first step to budgeting any home bar — or to noticing how much money a regular habit quietly burns. The same logic powers the cost calculator, which converts a daily habit into monthly and yearly dollar figures in seconds.

Fifth-to-ounce conversions

Measure	Value
Milliliters	750 ml
Fluid ounces	25.36 fl oz
US gallons	0.198 gal (≈ 1/5)
Shots (1.5 oz)	≈ 17
Shots (2 oz)	≈ 16
Wine glasses (5 oz)	≈ 5
750ml handles in a 1.75L	2.3

The money

How much does a fifth cost?

Typical US prices for a 750ml bottle by category. State taxes and store markup move the exact number.

Spirit	Typical price	Examples
Well vodka	$8–$15	Popov, Nikolai
Standard whiskey	$15–$30	Jack Daniel's, Jim Beam
Mid-shelf gin	$18–$30	Tanqueray, Bombay
Premium tequila	$35–$60	Patron, Casamigos
Ultra-premium scotch	$60–$150+	Macallan 12

Prices are typical US retail ranges for a 750ml fifth and vary widely by state liquor tax and retailer.

Your questions, answered

Fifth of alcohol FAQ.

The questions that come up whenever a bottle size is called a fifth.

Frequently asked questions

A fifth is a 750ml bottle of spirits — the standard US liquor bottle size. It holds 25.36 fluid ounces, which is about 17 one-and-a-half-ounce shots or 5 five-ounce glasses of wine.

The name comes from the historical size: one-fifth of a US gallon (757ml). When metric sizes became standard in the 1970s, 750ml was adopted as the closest metric equivalent, but the nickname stuck.

A 750ml fifth holds about 17 one-and-a-half-ounce shots, or 16 two-ounce pours. Bartenders and home bars budget on the 17-shots-per-bottle figure.

A fifth of standard vodka, whiskey, or rum typically runs $8–$25. Mid-shelf brands are $20–$35, and premium bottles easily exceed $40. The price depends mostly on the brand and state liquor taxes.

It depends on the pour: about 17 drinks at 1.5 oz, 16 at 2 oz, or about 10 double-pours. At the US standard of 1.5 oz per drink, a fifth is roughly 17 standard drinks.

Smaller sizes include the half-pint (200ml), pint (375ml), and half-gallon equivalents. Larger is the 1.75L handle, which holds 2.3 fifths — about 39 shots.

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