How Many Drinks in a Bottle of Whiskey? The Exact Numbers


Maybe you’re throwing a party or maybe you want to know exactly how long it will take you to finish a bottle by yourself, either way it can be very useful to know exactly how many drinks there are in a bottle of whiskey.

There are 12.7 drinks of 2fl oz in a 750ml bottle of whiskey and 11.8 drinks of 2fl oz in a 700ml bottle of whiskey. There are 16.9 1.5fl oz shots in a 750ml bottle of whiskey and 15.8 1.5fl oz shots in a 700ml bottle of whiskey. There is enough whiskey in a 750ml bottle for between 10.1 and 25.4 cocktails.

With different amounts poured for different ways of drinking whiskey and several different sizes of whiskey bottles, it can be difficult to know exactly how many drinks are in a bottle of whiskey. Fortunately, I’ve simplified everything.

Man pouring lots of drinks of whiskey from a bottle

How to Calculate the Number of Drinks in a Bottle of Whiskey

In order to calculate the number of drinks in a bottle of whiskey you need to know two things.

  1. The size of your drink in ml
  2. The size of your bottle in ml

Then you divide the second number by the first.

When it comes to the size of your drink there are obviously no formal rules (except of course in bars) but there are unofficial standards which vary depending on how you’re drinking your whiskey.

  • The standard pour for drinking whiskey neat is 2fl oz
  • The standard pour for drinking whiskey shots is 1 or 1.5fl oz
  • The standard pour for a whiskey cocktail is 1 – 2.5fl oz

Now these are precise amounts of whiskey but don’t worry if you don’t measure your drinks out exactly. If you’re only approximating the amount you pour, you can just use the following number of drinks in a bottle of whiskey, as approximates too.

There are 10 sizes of whiskey bottles.

  • 3L – large sized
  • 1.75L– large sized
  • 1L– large sized
  • 750ml – standard size in the US
  • 700ml – standard size in the EU
  • 500ml – miniature sized
  • 375ml – miniature sized
  • 350ml – miniature sized
  • 200ml – miniature sized
  • 50ml – miniature sized

Now you all you need to do is divide all the bottle sizes by all the pour sizes and you’ve got the number of drinks in a bottle of whiskey. But don’t worry about that because I’ve done all the work for you.

The Number of Drinks in a Bottle of Whiskey

With a standard amount for a neat pour the only factor that varies when working out the number of drinks in a bottle of whiskey is its size.

There are 12.7 drinks of 2fl oz in a 750ml bottle of whiskey and 11.8 drinks of 2fl oz in a 700ml bottle of whiskey. There are 50.7 drinks of 2fl oz in a 3-liter bottle of whiskey and less than a standard full drink in a 50ml bottle of whiskey.

The table below shows the number of 2fl oz / 59.15ml drinks in bottles of whiskey of different sizes.

Bottle SizeNumber of drinks
3L50.7
1.75L29.6
1L16.9
750ml12.7
700ml11.8
500ml8.5
375ml6.3
350ml5.9
200ml3.4
50ml0.8

As you can see the number of drinks in the two most common whiskey bottle sizes is about 12. I have to confess, when I first saw that number, I was surprised. To my untrained eye I imagined you could pour at least 25 drinks from a 750ml or 700ml bottle of whiskey. Turns out the number of drinks in a bottle of whiskey is half what I thought and costs twice as much.

It’s useful to know the number of drinks in a bottle of whiskey for a number of reasons:

  1. You can calculate how often you need to drink a glass of whiskey from a bottle so that you finish it before it oxidizes too much
  2. You can calculate the optimum number of bottles to have open at one time to ensure they don’t oxidize before you finish them
  3. You can calculate how many bottles you need when hosting an event at which you’re going to be serving whiskey
Lots of bottles of Ballantine's whiskey

The issue of oxidation is as follows. Once a bottle of whiskey is opened – meaning unsealed, even if you close it tightly, oxygen will now be able to get to the whiskey. This causes oxidation – when oxygen binds to one chemical compound turning it into another, and it will change the compounds of the whiskey and therefore its flavor.

Precisely how the flavor of your whiskey will change can’t be predicted. It may be for the better, it may be for the worse, but if you’ve spent a lot of money on a bottle of whiskey you won’t want to take the risk.

An inch or two of headspace (amount of air between the top of the bottle and the whiskey) won’t have much of an effect on the whiskey’s taste for at least a year, which is plenty of time to enjoy those 12 drinks. If three quarters of the bottle is air, the quality of the whiskey will degrade in about a month, but with only three drinks left you should be able to manage that too.

If you’re dealing with one of the larger sized bottles this may be a bit more difficult. A 3L bottle of whiskey is 50 drinks to finish in a year which is fine, but when there’s only a quarter left that’s still 12 and half drinks of whiskey that has less than a month before the quality degrades (because there’s much more air in a larger sized bottle).

It’s not very difficult but you may want to plan this especially if you’re the kind of person who has two or three (or more) bottles of whiskey open at one time. You’ll want to ensure you can finish all of them before their quality degrades. Of course, this will all depend on how often you drink whiskey and if it’s the type of whiskey that you don’t want any changes to its flavors to occur.

It’s also useful to know how many drinks are in a bottle of whiskey when you’re hosting an event at which whiskey is going to be served. If you know the number of people you’re having over and how much whiskey they’re likely to drink you can work out the number of bottles of whiskey you’re going to need.

If you’re hosting a more formal whiskey tasting event where there’s usually about 5 – 7 people tasting five or six different whiskeys, you’ll need five or six 750ml bottles of whiskeys. That’s despite the fact that seven people drinking six glasses of whiskey is about three and a half bottles, because the point is for everyone to taste the different whiskeys.

On the other hand, you should have two and a half bottles of whiskey left over. If you don’t, someone’s been having seconds.

If you’re hosting a party, you may have a few more people but with less focus on everyone tasting whiskey together they’ll probably be drinking less whiskey each. The following table shows the number of 750ml bottles you’ll need depending on the number of people and the number of drinks they’ll be having:

Group Size1 Drink2 Drinks3 Drinks
10 people123
15 people234
20 people245
25 people357
30 people358

The Number of Shots in a Bottle of Whiskey

Man pouring shots of whiskey from a bottle

If you’re drinking whiskey shots, it’s a little more complicated because there are two standard pours:

  1. 1fl oz / 29.57ml
  2. 1.5fl oz / 44.36ml

There’s also a double whiskey or two shots pour, which unsurprisingly is 3fl oz / 88.72ml.

There are 25.4 1fl oz shots in a 750ml bottle of whiskey and 23.7 1fl oz shots in a 700ml bottle of whiskey. There are 16.9 1.5fl oz shots in a 750ml bottle of whiskey and 15.8 1.5fl oz shots in a 700ml bottle of whiskey. And there are 8.5 3fl oz doubles in a 750ml bottle of whiskey and 7.9 3fl oz doubles in a 700ml bottle of whiskey.

The table below shows the number of 1, 1.5 & 3fl oz shots in bottles of whiskey of different sizes.

Bottle Size1fl oz1.5fl oz3fl oz
3L101.567.633.8
1.75L59.239.419.7
1L33.822.511.3
750ml25.416.98.5
700ml23.715.87.9
500ml16.911.35.6
375ml12.78.54.2
350ml11.87.93.9
200ml6.84.52.3
50ml1.71.10.6

Since the smaller pour for a shot is half the standard neat pour, there will be twice as many of them in a bottle of whiskey. Since the bigger pour for a shot is three quarters the standard neat pour there will be a quarter more of them in a bottle of whiskey. And since a whiskey double is half again the standard neat pour there will be a quarter less of them in a bottle of whiskey.

Since drinking shots is less to do with tasting the whiskey and more to do with getting alcohol inside you as quickly as possible, knowing the number of shots in a bottle of whiskey to ensure you finish it before it oxidizes is not relevant. You’re not tasting it properly anyway so you’re unlikely to notice if the flavors have changed. And of course, you’re not going to be using your expensive whiskey for shots – are you.

But you do need to know the number of shots in a bottle of whiskey in order to calculate how many bottles you’ll need when hosting an event at which shots are going to feature prominently.

The following table shows the number of 750ml bottles you’ll need depending on the number of people and the number of (1.5fl oz) shots they’ll be having:

Group Size1 Shot2 Shots3 Shots
10 people122
15 people123
20 people234
25 people235
30 people246

The Number of Cocktails in a Bottle of Whiskey

The number of cocktails you can make with a bottle of whiskey is the most complicated because different cocktails are made with different amounts of whiskey.

The most common amounts of whiskey in cocktails are:

  • 1floz / 29.57ml
  • 1.25fl oz / 36.97ml
  • 1.5fl oz / 44.36ml
  • 2fl oz / 59.15ml
  • 2.5fl oz / 73.93ml

The table below shows the number of cocktails with different amounts of whiskey that can be made with whiskey bottles of different sizes.

Bottle Size1fl oz1.25fl oz1.5fl oz2fl oz2.5fl oz
3L101.581.167.650.740.6
1.75L59.247.339.429.623.7
1L33.82722.516.913.5
750ml25.420.316.912.710.1
700ml23.718.915.811.89.5
500ml16.913.511.38.56.8
375ml12.710.18.56.35.1
350ml11.89.57.95.94.7
200ml6.85.44.53.42.7
50ml1.71.41.10.80.7

As you can see if the cocktails you’re making are made with 2fl oz of whiskey which is the same amount as the standard neat pour, then the number of cocktails you can make with a bottle of whiskey will be the same as the number of drinks in a bottle of whiskey. And if the cocktails you’re making are made with 1.5fl oz of whiskey which is the same amount as a shot, then the number of cocktails you can make with a bottle of whiskey will be the same as the number of shots in a bottle of whiskey.

To make things easier, here’s a table showing some of the most popular whiskey cocktails, how much whiskey is used to make them and how many can be made with whiskey bottles of different sizes.

fl oz of
Whiskey
700ml750ml1L1.75L3L
Scotch and Soda211.812.716.929.650.7
Hot Toddy211.812.716.929.650.7
Rob Roy211.812.716.929.650.7
Sazerac1.515.816.922.539.467.6
Old-Fashioned211.812.716.929.650.7
Mint Julep211.812.716.929.650.7
Whiskey Sour1.515.816.922.539.467.6
Jack and Coke211.812.716.929.650.7
Manhattan211.812.716.929.650.7
Rusty Nail1.515.816.922.539.467.6
7 and 7123.725.433.859.2101.5
Irish Coffee1.515.816.922.539.467.6

Josh Mitchell

I'm Josh Mitchell. I love whiskey and am working on increasing my whiskey tasting abilities and my collection.

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