Bartending 101: Free pouring vs the jigger

November 5, 3:35 PMBartender ExaminerKathleen Neves

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Jiggers come in a variety of sizes

High volume bartenders such as bartenders who work in nightclubs often pour alcohol directly from the bottle when making drinks. This is considered “free pouring”. To a customer, it might not look like the bartender is measuring out the alcohol they’re pouring, but they are. When a bartender free pours, they are measuring out the alcohol they pour by counting silently in their head. Here is how it works: for every number a bartender counts to, that number represents a quarter ounce of alcohol. For example, if a bartender is pouring a one-ounce shot, they will count to four. If the bartender is pouring a one and a half ounce shot, they will count to six. Free pouring is a fast and easy way to measure the alcohol being poured into mixed drinks that only consist of a liquor and a mixer. Unfortunately, free pouring doesn’t always result in an accurate measure of alcohol because not all bartenders count at the same speed. Some bartenders might count slower and some might have a faster count.

Generally with a cocktail that consists of a liquor and a mixer, the slight variations of a count wont have a dramatic effect on the drink itself. Some cocktails, especially labor-intensive cocktails or classic cocktails will require specific measurements of ingredients. Otherwise the whole cocktail is thrown off. This is where jiggers come into play. A jigger is a bartending-measuring tool. Jiggers come in a variety of sizes and shapes. The most common jigger used behind a bar is made out of stainless steel and is in the shape of an hourglass, with each of its opposing sides forming a cone shape. Jiggers come in different measuring combinations:

1 oz to 2 oz
1 ¼ oz to 3/4 oz
1 ½ oz to 1 oz

Some bartenders refuse to use jiggers because they feel that it’s just an extra, unnecessary step in building a cocktail. Using jiggers ensures a bartender’s ability to be consistent with every cocktail that they make. The use of jiggers doesn’t require any more extra time than it does to free pour as long as the bartender is prepared with their tools ahead of time. Also, customers feel assured that they are getting an accurate pour in their drinks because they can watch the bartender measure out the alcohol.

If a bar doesn’t have jiggers available for bartenders to use, a good substitute would be a shot glass. Bartenders need to make sure they know the bar’s standard shot pour before pouring drinks. The bar’s standard shot pour will usually reflect the size of shot glasses that are used behind the bar. There isn’t an industry standard when it comes to shot amounts so one bar might have a one ounce standard shot pour while the bar next door might have a standard shot pour of an one and a half ounce.

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