What’s a fifth of liquor?

Before the adoption of metric units, booze in the U.S. was most commonly bottled in quarts and “fifths.” A quart is one quarter of a gallon, and a fifth is — you guessed it — a fifth of a gallon. Now, liquor comes in one-liter and 750-ml bottles, which are about the same size as the quart and fifth, respectively.

A 750-ml bottle — the most common size for wine — is 0.750 liter. In other words, it’s three quarters of a liter (because 3/4 = 0.75).

One fifth of a US gallon is 25.6 ounces, and 0.75 liter equals 25.4 ounces, so a 750-ml bottle is very close to a fifth.

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