HOW STANDARDS EVOLVED IN BOTTLING
WHISKY BOTTLES
Glass bottles began to be used for holding wines and spirits in the mid-17th century, but they were very expensive, so only the wealthy could afford them. They were mainly used as ‘serving bottles’ or decanters, rather than ‘binning bottles’ for storing wine in the cellar.
Glass pads, impressed with the owner’s mark or coat of arms, were attached to each bottle, and the bottles themselves were taken to be filled by the wine merchant, or filled in their owners’ cellar by the butler (i.e. ‘bottler’). Within only a decade or so, the middle classes were also able to afford glass bottles: Samuel Pepys records in his diary of 1663 that he ‘went to the Mitre’ to see wine put into his ‘crested bottles’.
The earliest glass bottles had spherical bodies and long, parallel necks, with a rim at the top to hold down the string which kept the stopper in place. They are known as ‘shaft and globe bottles’. By 1700 the neck had begun to taper and the body to become compressed - these are ‘onion bottles’. They continued to be treasured, and in Scotland were commonly used as decanters for whisky in public houses. In the Highlands, it was traditional to give them as marriage gifts, crudely engraved with the names of the bride and groom, the date of the nuptials and even with an illustration of the event.
Between 1700 and 1720,
the onion shape was sometimes exaggerated, so the body became wider than the
height, then about 1720 the sides began to be flattened by rolling on a steel
plate while the glass was cooling - a process called ‘marvering’ – in order to rack them in the ‘bins’ of the cellar.
Early marvered bottles were ‘mallet’ shaped, where the straight sides tapered away from the base, but over the next twenty years, they became taller and more cylindrical,
particularly after 1740, by which time the value of maturing wine in the bottle
was becoming generally recognised. By the mid-century, many wine and spirits
merchants had their own bottles, with their name or trademark pressed into the
glass pad, to be returned for refilling with whatever liquor was available.
The classic French wine
bottle shapes familiar to us today had evolved by about 1800 – there was a huge
growth in the number of glass factories in Bordeaux, particularly, which was
producing around two million bottles a year by 1790. Bottles from this period
can often be identified by a slight swelling around the base, caused by the
glass ‘sagging’ while the bottle cooled in an upright position.
Until 1821 bottles were
free-blown, which meant that capacities and dimensions were not standardised.
So when one reads of hearty drinkers of the late 18th century
downing three or four or even six bottles of wine at a sitting – this seems to
have been especially common among Scottish judges of the period, who habitually
drank claret while sitting in judgement – it might be supposed that the bottles
of their time were smaller than those of today. Not so. Research done in the
Ashmolean Museum in Cambridge shows that the average bottle size was if
anything slightly larger than today.
In 1821 Henry Ricketts, a glass manufacturer in Bristol, patented a method of blowing bottles into three-piece moulds, which made it possible to standardise capacity and dimensions. Such moulds left seam marks – the way in which collectors identify them today – but during the 1850s a process was developed to remove these by lining the
mould with beeswax and sawdust, and turning the bottle as it was cooling.
Until about 1850 all wine
and spirits bottles were made from ‘black’ glass – in fact, it was very dark
green or dark brown – owing to particles of iron in the sand used in their
manufacture. Clear glass bottles and decanters were made, but they were taxed
at eleven times the rate of black glass.
Indeed, owing to the
Glass Tax, bottles remained expensive and continued to be hoarded and re-used
until after 1845, when the duty on glass was abolished. The earliest known ‘whisky
bottles’, such as a Macallan bottled by the local grocer in Craigellachie in
1841 (and reproduced in facsimile in 2003), were reused wine bottles. Even
after the duty had been lifted and clear glass began to be used more, whisky
makers continued to favour green glass bottles, often with glass seals on their
shoulders. VAT 69 continues this style of bottle.
Many whisky companies
continued to fill into small casks and stoneware jars and offered
their goods in bulk. It was not until 1887 that Josiah Arnall and Howard Ashley
patented the first mechanical bottle-blowing machine, allowing bottled whisky
to really take off. In the trade bottled whisky was termed ‘cased goods’, since
it was sold by the twelve-bottle lot packed into stout wooden cases, like top-quality wine today.
Bottled whisky, properly
stoppered and sealed, was less liable to adulteration or dilution
by unscrupulous publicans and spirits merchants than whisky sold in bulk, and
during the 1890s cased goods became the commonest way for whisky to be sold,
particularly in the off-trade.
The use of plastic
(polyethene) bottles, developed during the 1960s and adopted by soft drinks manufacturers, has largely been eschewed by the whisky industry, except for miniatures supplied to airlines. These bottles are called PETs – not a reference to their diminutive size, but to the material they are made from:
Polyethylene Terephthalate. Their clear advantage is weight, and they began to
become commonplace in the 1990s. Concerns about shelf-life and contamination
by oxygen or carbon dioxide have been addressed since 1999 by coating the outside
of the bottle with an epoxy-amine-based inhibiting barrier.
BOTTLE CAPACITIES
As mentioned in relation to William Younger’s examination of bottles from between 1660 – 1817 in the Ashmolean Museum, the capacity of wine (and therefore whisky) bottles remained relatively constant at around 30 Fl.Oz (1 1/2 pints) during this period, in spite of bottles being free-blown.
With the introduction of moulded bottles in the 1820s it became much easier to standardise capacity, and
this was fixed at 26 2/3 Fl.Oz (or one-sixth of a gallon, which is also
equal to four-fifths of a U.S.
quart).
In 19xx this capacity was
defined by law for a standard bottle - along with 40 Fl.Oz (equal to an Imperial quart – 2 pints), 13 1/3 Fl.Oz (half bottle), 6 2/3 Fl.Oz (quarter bottle), 3 4/5 Fl. Oz (miniature)
– and in 19yy it was required that the capacity be stated on the label, along
with the strength of the whisky.
American capacities are slightly different. 1 U.S. liquid pint = .832 Imperial pint (12 Fl.Oz.). Whisky
was commonly sold by the Imperial quart (40 Fl.Oz) or by the ‘reputed quart’,
4/5th U.S. quart or 26 2/3
Fl.Oz.
From January 1980
capacities have been expressed metrically on bottle labels, in line with the
Système International d’Unités, when 26 2/3 Fl.Oz became 75 cl, half
bottles 37.5cl, quarter bottles 18.75cl
and miniatures 5cl.
In 1992 the standard
bottle size throughout the European Community was lowered to 70cl.
The United States retains
fluid ounces, with the ‘reputed quart’ remaining the standard bottle size
(75cl).
In Japan, both 75cl and
70cl bottles are acceptable.
BOTTLE NUMBERS January 1884 – December 1909
During this period, some
bottle-makers embossed a number in the base of their bottles. This is useful
for dating bottles during the ‘Whisky Boom’. This list came from www.antiquebottles-glassworks.co.uk, an
invaluable site for bottle collectors.
1884: ****1 – 19753 1891: 163767 – 1901: 368154 –
1885: 19754 – 1892: 185713 – 1902: 385088 –
1886: 40480 – 1893: 205240 – 1903: 402913 –
1887: 64520 – 1894: 224720 – 1904: 425017 –
1888: 90483 – 1895: 246975 – 1905: 447548 –
1889: 116648 – 1896: 268392 – 1906: 471486 –
1890: 141273 – 1897: 291240 – 1907: 493487 –
1898: 311658 – 1908: 518415 –
1899: 331707 – 1909: 534963 –
1900: 351202 –
WHAT COLLECTORS ESTEEM
|
Age |
Free-blown and moulded (pre-1870) bottles have ‘pontil marks’ on their bases, created by an iron rod, called a pontil, used to manipulate the molten glass. |
|
Rarity |
The fewer known examples, the more valuable the bottle will be. |
|
Texture |
Variations in glass surface, number of bubbles in the glass, stretch marks, or changes in colour. |
|
Colour |
Unusual, dark or strong colours, or a colour which is rare for that kind of bottle. |
|
Embossed |
Where bottles are embossed (uncommon in early whisky bottles), clarity of the embossing, its heaviness (heavier the better), its intricacy and the interest of the design or words. |
|
Shape |
The aesthetic quality of some bottles. |
|
Labels |
Any item with its original label, contents, carton or box is of more interest than an ‘empty’. |
AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
Whisky was first distilled as a medicinal
tonic, but by the end of the 17th century its popularity began to boom across
the UK. Glass is inert and impermeable and so it was the perfect solution when
the first distillers were looking for a way to effectively preserve and
distribute their spirit to its ever-growing audience.
Glass whisky bottles were made by specialised glass blowers and were expensive to produce. A hand-blown bottle
was typically between 600-800ml (60-80cl) because that was the average lung
capacity of the glass blowers of the time. Due to the expense and luxury of the
glass, the whisky connoisseurs of the 17th century would have taken their own
bottles to be filled.
CERAMIC POTS: 1707-1850
Incessant taxation put serious strains on
the whisky industry with many distilleries shutting down and some choosing to
go underground and produced whisky illegally. To compound matters there was
also a heavy tax on glass introduced in 1746. The taxes meant that whisky
distillers and drinkers started to look for alternative and discreet ways to
store their whisky.
Stone and ceramic pots and bottles became
widely used as they provided a vessel that was both cheap and durable. Ceramic
pots were also discreet, especially important if a distillery wanted to avoid
paying their taxes.
The durability of ceramic and stone became an increasingly important consideration as sea trade began to boom in the 18th century.
The taxes and booming sea trade are also
linked to the dawning rise in popularity of miniatures. Miniatures provided a
practical solution for sailors as they were cheaper than full bottles but the
other cheap alternatives – beer and wine, which had been favourites at the time
– did not fare well at sea. Miniature
spirits mixed with sours became sailors’ tipple of choice.
In the early 1900s, bottle sizes became
standardised in UK law
A MINIATURE BOOM: 1850-1970
At the turn of the 20th century, as taxes on alcohol continued to soar and two World Wars took their toll, miniatures
became increasingly popular on land due to their affordability. Throughout the
first and second World Wars buying a standard size bottle was considered
frivolous spending. A miniature on the other hand provided a more economical
option, allowing an occasional indulgence without having to splash out on a
whole bottle.
STANDARDISING BOTTLE SIZE
When was bottle size first standardised in
the UK?
In the early 1900s, bottle sizes became
standardised in UK law. The standard was set as 26 2/3 fluid ounces, which was
simply the average size of the traditional bottles produced by glass blowers in
the 17th century.
This standard was used until the start of
1980 when metric volume was introduced.
The standard size for Scotch whisky bottles
changed to 70cl in 1990
When was metric bottle size introduced for
whisky bottles?
On the 1st January 1980 the global standard for wine, spirit and liqueur bottles came into force converting liquid ounces
to metric volume. Standard whisky bottle size was set at 750 ml, also commonly
denoted as 75cl. This is the standard still used in much of the world today,
including the USA.
What is the standard bottle size for Scotch
whisky?
On the 1st of January 1990, the European Union updated their standard bottle size for spirits to 70cl or 700ml. This was
because a 700ml bottle is an ideal volume for pubs, clubs, and bars, which
have the option of selling 25ml or 35ml measures.
Since the 1st of January 1990, the standard
bottle size used by the Scotch whisky industry has been 70cl.
Can I use standard bottle sizes to date my
whisky bottle?
The set dates mentioned above mean that for Scotch whisky, bottle size can be used as an indicator of the bottling era.
That being said, care must still be taken as bottles designed for export for
example to the USA are still 75cl, and so other factors must be considered
also.
As well as a variation in the size of
miniature bottles, half bottles – whether 13 1/3 Fl oz, 37.5cl or 35cl – have
been popular throughout the last century of whisky drinking. Even quarter
bottles can occasionally be found for curious collectors so bottle size should
always be used with other indicators for accurate dating.
THE 21st CENTURY: AN UNSTANDARDISED STANDARD
While the official bottle size for whisky
and other spirits is set across most of the world and has been set for many
years, as mentioned above, you still will find a large variation in bottle
sizes. And one that is only increasing.
As whisky increases in value bottlers look
at different ways to appeal to and provide value for their drinkers. Many
Japanese whiskies for example are bottled at 50cl and this trend for
smaller-than-standard bottle sizes is one that is expanding in the modern
single malt Scotch whisky market too.
Smaller bottles, such as 50cl offerings,
are becoming increasingly common. Similar to the appeal of miniatures at the
start of the last century, 50cl bottles offer a more accessible way to indulge
in your favourite tipple. As well as reducing the volume and therefore cost of
the whisky, smaller bottle sizes reduce the VAT and duty due on the bottle,
again offering a more attractive proposition for drinkers – and a more
accessible entry point to appeal to new drinkers – while allowing bottlers to
maintain their own margins on more expensive casks.
Whatever your feelings on whisky bottle
sizes and the reasons behind why they change, the history of the whisky bottle
has shown us that preferences change regularly and for a myriad of reasons.
These days you can even get whisky in a
pouch, so who knows what will be next.
Why a Pint is Bigger in the UK Than in the US
An American will find a pint of beer in London looking similar to his customary pint back home, but, given the amount of the golden-brown, oddly warm liquid sloshing around in the glass vessel, it will seem to be much larger!
How Big Is a Pint?
This is because a pint in the United Kingdom is bigger than a pint in the United States. The UK pint is 20 fluid ounces, while the US pint fills up 16 fl oz. However, this translation is not that simple, as fluid ounces do not equal one another across the Atlantic. Here is the breakdown of volume between the two countries:
- The British Imperial fluid ounce is equal to 28.413 millilitres, while the US Customary fluid ounce is 29.573 ml.
- The British Imperial pint is 568.261 ml (20 fluid ounces), while the US Customary pint is 473.176 ml (16 fl oz).
- The British Imperial quart is 1.13 litres (40 fl oz), while the US Customary quart is 0.94 L (32 fl oz).
- The British Imperial gallon is 4.54 L (160 fl oz), while the US Customary gallon is 3.78 L (128 fl oz).
BACKGROUND OF ENGLISH UNITS
At the root of this divide is the
difference in measurement systems. While the American system of measurement
often is referred to as the Imperial System, this usage is erroneous. The US,
ever since the formative years of the New World nation, has used the US
Customary System. The Imperial System, alternatively, was established in 1824
for Great Britain and its colonies. Even today, decades after officially
switching to SI (metric) units, volume in the UK is measured in British
Imperial units. Both these systems, however, are derived from English units.
English units were in use until the early 1800s, and they saw a vast range of
influences due to the frenzied history of the British Isles. This historical
precedence spanned a millennium, so, to keep things short: the Celtic Britons
lived in modern-day Britain, and they were at war with Roman invaders for the
first few centuries AD. After the Romans left, the Celts were invaded and
displaced by the Anglo-Saxons, who were dominated by the Normans.
This resulted in a plethora of units of
measurement. Many Anglo-Saxon units had some basis in the people’s agricultural
past. For example, 3 barleycorns equalled 1 ynce (inch), and an acre was
considered a field the size a farmer could plough in a single day. The foot,
obviously having a connection to the length of the human appendage, was in use,
but it had various conflicting specifications.
This resulted in a plethora of units of measurement. Many Anglo-Saxon units had some basis in the people’s agricultural past. For example, 3 barleycorns equalled 1 ynce (inch), and an acre was considered a field the size a farmer could plough in a single day. The foot, obviously having a connection to the length of the human appendage, was in use, but it had various conflicting specifications.
The Norman kings brought Roman measurements to Britain, specifically the 12-inch foot and the mile, which was defined originally as the length of 1000 paces of a Roman legion. If you’d like to read more about this background, please refer to my post on the simple peg measure in Whisky vs the non-conformal Whiskey.
The metric tonne is 1000 Kg. Since 1 Kg=2.2046 lbs, one metric tonne = 2204.6 lbs.
We have left the SI or Metric System out since our discussion is on volumetric measures, but that doesn’t hide the fact
that both countries have not fully adjusted to global measures. How long will
they bask in lost memories of deluded grandeur?
The article on the UK pint vs the US pint has been taken from an ansi.org Blog post of 22/6/2018.
