Food & Drink: Half Shot

One of the minor satisfactions of life is the sight of a bartender pouring a little above the white line that graces most shot glasses. To most tipplers, the line signifies an ounce, and they are pleased by what seems to be a bonus. In fact the bartender’s generosity is only good psychology: even when filled to the top, few shot glasses nowadays hold the ounce of whisky that everyone thinks he is getting. Instead, the trusting drinker may be tossing off anything from a half-ounce to seven-eighths.

The man behind the bar (or, more realistically, the man who owns it) knows that there are only 25 or 26 one-ounce shots in a fifth of whisky, while a three-quarter ounce shot glass will dole out 31 drinks. A bar thus can make an extra $2 to $5 a bottle by skimping on the size of the shot. In one San Francisco hotel-and bar-supply house, the manager lined up five shot glasses—all with identical fluted bottoms, all exactly the same size and shape. But one held five-eighths of an ounce, the next three-quarters, the next seven-eighths, the next one ounce and the last an ounce and a quarter. Says George Walton, owner of the American Bartenders School in Chicago: “Most shot glasses today are sort of an optical illusion. Some of them taper so much on the inside that you can’t even get your little finger into the bottom of the glass.” What looks like solid whisky is usually nearer to solid glass.

At various times, various souls have tried to make honest men of all barkeepers. It has been the law in Illinois since 1949 that no whisky, gin or rum may be served in less than a one-ounce container. But most drinkers have only their own instinct to provide protection. Says Joseph Amann, a Chicago bar-equipment dealer for the past 38 years: “A man has a built-in measure in his mouth. If a drink doesn’t burn as much as it did before, he knows he’s getting gypped.”