The Standard Pour For Single Mixer Cocktails Is More Than You Think

When pouring a drink or mixing a cocktail, the average home bartender probably measures with their heart, throwing caution to the wind and filling the glass to whatever spot feels right. Their oversized wine glasses are probably filled well past the widest part of the glass; they measure whiskey in terms of fingers, and they may not have any idea what a jigger is, or what the lines on the inside of a red solo cup indicate.

And that's okay! But this kind of ambivalence to standard cocktail measurement can lead to disappointment at your local bar, particularly when ordering a single mixer cocktail — where one sip might have you shuddering because it's "too strong," or mildly ticked off that your drink is as weak as water.

Understanding what exactly a standard pour is can help to alleviate this unfortunate discrepancy. And the magic number you'll want to remember is 1.5 oz.

Single mixer cocktails, also known as well drinks, rail drinks, or highballs, are cocktails made from a spirit and a non-alcoholic mixer such as club soda, tonic water, ginger ale, Coca-Cola, lemonade, or orange juice. They are often served with a citrus wedge or other garnish, and examples of single mixer cocktails include things such as rum and Coke, gin and tonic, whiskey ginger, or vodka soda.

The challenge when making a single mixer cocktail is measuring it correctly. The standard pour for a shot or single pour of a spirit is 1.5 oz, just enough to fill a shot glass to the lip. Since highballs also use full-proof spirits like whiskey or gin, this same measurement can be used for a single mixer cocktail. If you have a jigger on hand, this is easy to measure — though jiggers can differ in sizing. Most have a one-ounce side and a half-ounce size, so to measure 1.5 oz, you can either use the one-ounce side and eyeball the half, or fill up each side in turn. Some jiggers, however, have a one-ounce side and a two-ounce side, so be careful.

When measuring a mixed drink, however, the size of your glass is nothing to scoff at. There's a reason why a gin and tonic at a bar might be served in a rocks glass or Tom Collins glass, but a double might be served in a pint glass. The more liquor you add, the more mixer you'll need to balance it out, and vice versa. Debates persist over the ideal ratio of spirit to mixer, with some suggesting a stronger 1:2 ratio while others recommend a milder 1:3 or 1:4 ratio.

A rocks glass tends to hold 8-10 ounces while a highball glass holds around 12-14 ounces. A pint glass holds — as the name would indicate — a whole 16 ounces. So if you have a 1.5 oz pour of whiskey, three to six ounces of ginger ale would be needed to make a proper whiskey ginger. Adding in a bit of ice, this would work perfectly for a rocks glass, which easily holds the resulting 4.5-7.5 ounces, plus ice. But, let's say you only have pint glasses. You may want to double up on your spirit to make sure the drink doesn't taste too weak — especially if you plan on filling your glass to the top with your mixer.