The cocktail measurements chart: millilitres to grams

Why volume and weight are not the same number

Every jigger, measure and bar spoon in the world is calibrated in volume. Every scale is calibrated in mass. They only agree for water, which is 1.00 g/ml by definition — and water is the one thing almost never in a cocktail.

Ethanol is much lighter than water, at 0.789 g/ml. Sugar is much heavier. So a bar's inventory sorts itself into two camps:

• Lighter than water: spirits. A 40% ABV bottling lands around 0.94 g/ml. Overproof rum and absinthe go lower still, to about 0.88.
• Heavier than water: anything with sugar in it. Liqueurs sit around 1.04–1.10. Syrups run from 1.11 (1:1 simple) to 1.28 (agave nectar). Grenadine is 1.18, orgeat 1.17.

The practical consequence: in a drink that mixes a spirit and a syrup — which is most of them — the two errors run in opposite directions and compound. Pour 60 ml of bourbon and 15 ml of rich syrup by volume and you have poured 56.4 g and 19.1 g. Assume 60 g and 15 g, and you are 6% light on the whiskey and 27% heavy on the sugar at the same time.

How to use this chart

Find your ingredient, read across. The g/ml column is its density; the remaining columns are what a 15, 22.5, 30, 45 and 60 ml pour actually weighs. To convert any other volume, multiply the millilitres by the g/ml figure.

To pour by weight at home: put the mixing glass or the serving glass on a kitchen scale, press tare, and pour until the display reads the target. Press tare again before the next ingredient. Nothing is left behind in a jigger, and you never have to hold a measure steady with one hand while pouring with the other.

These are the exact densities the PourPilot coaster uses to convert a recipe into a weight target, and the figures published on all 124 of our recipe pages. They are category averages: your specific bottling may differ by a percent or two, which is well inside the tolerance of any technique you are replacing.

The five numbers worth memorising

Spirits (40% ABV)	0.94 g/ml	Gin, vodka, whiskey, rum, tequila, brandy. 30 ml = 28.2 g.
Fresh citrus juice	1.03 g/ml	Lemon and lime. 25 ml = 25.8 g.
1:1 simple syrup	1.11 g/ml	15 ml = 16.7 g.
Sweet vermouth & Campari	1.05 g/ml	30 ml = 31.5 g.
Agave nectar	1.28 g/ml	The heaviest common ingredient. 15 ml = 19.2 g.

Common questions

Is 30 ml of alcohol 30 grams?

No. A standard 40% ABV spirit has a density of about 0.94 g/ml, so 30 ml weighs roughly 28.2 g — about 6% less than the volume suggests. The stronger the spirit, the lighter it gets: overproof rum at 63% ABV is around 0.90 g/ml.

How many grams is a shot?

A 25 ml South African tot of a 40% spirit weighs about 23.5 g. A 30 ml pour weighs about 28.2 g. A 44 ml (1.5 US fl oz) pour weighs about 41.4 g.

Is weighing really more accurate than a jigger?

Yes, for two separate reasons. A scale reads to 0.1 g, which is finer than any jigger's graduations. And a jigger has surface tension — a film of syrup or liqueur stays behind in the measure, and how much depends on how viscous the ingredient is and how long you let it drain. Weighing into the glass has no transfer step at all.

Does the ice change the weight?

Everything on this page is the pour before ice and before dilution. A stirred drink typically picks up 15–25% of its volume in melted water; a hard-shaken one can pick up 25–30%. That dilution is part of the recipe, which is why you measure the ingredients and then control the ice, rather than trying to measure the finished drink.