Aside from mixing ingredients correctly, knowing your units and measures is essential to making your perfect cocktail.

Anyone attempting a new cocktail needs to pay lots of attention to measuring. Although some bartenders look like they are not measuring ingredients carefully, it is likely they have had lots of practice.

Some bartenders seem to effortlessly pour ingredients without paying attention, simply by counting time and estimating how much liquid has flowed through the spout of a bottle. While this can seem tempting (and can impress people), it can often lead to very disappointing results if you don’t know exactly what you are doing. Only attempt this with cocktails you know very well and with sufficient practice.

When working in a bar, some customers also prefer to see the bartender using shots in front of them, so that they know themselves what went into their cocktail. Anyone starting out should use a shot or a bar spoon for best results.

Our cocktail recipes are usually based on measuring ingredients in ‘shots’. A standard shot is 25ml, or one US fluid ounce (29.6ml). Of course, you can use anything with the same capacity, such as a small shot glass. As we often refer to fractions of shots, you also need to make sure your measure has straight sides. A bar spoon can also be used to replace a shot. A typical bar spoon is slightly larger than a normal teaspoon and usually contains around 1/8 of an ounce.

A bartender can come across lots of different units. To help you find your way across different recipes beyond this website, the tables below provide a handy unit conversion guide.

Standard unit measures:

Metric unit measures:

Imperial unit measures: