Technically a “shot” is an ounce, ounce and a quarter, or whatever the “house” (aka Your Boss) says it is. Generally it’s one fluid ounce as considered by law.
Whatever you do as a bartender or bar / restaurant owner though, accurate pouring is important to the drinking game.
Proper pouring is fundamental to controlling costs in order to stay in business and keep clients from getting wasted. The liver metabolizes alcohol at an ounce per hour when drinks are poured consistently. That’s called rhythm drinking and it’s the right way – but when drinking weak then strong then weak then strong then strong then weak again (because the bartenders are pouring differently or using different types of speed pourers that don’t pour the same) – the liver becomes shocked, and the person gets wasted. The right way to “mix” is to always go from stronger to weaker. There IS a way that you CAN drink inconsistent strength drinks, but you have to start strong and go downward in alcohol content. That way you can even drink liquor, followed by wine, followed by beer – now that you know the secret.
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(You can get those little Cap-On® re-usable Liquor Pourers here, and they come off again using a standard “V Rod” we use to pop open beer bottle caps with)
Here’s my own version of a video I shot on how you use speed pourers to pour shots – but not over ice, in an empty short shaker so that the accuracy can be measured (over the ice you don’t really know how close you’re getting to that perfect pour). What I don’t tell you is the precise counting method used. Generally today the count for a shot is a four count (one per quarter ounce). When I learned counting it was a seven count. There is no “right” count – I don’t use either four or seven. Use whatever works for you.
Shooters are something else, generally they’re 3 oz of mixed liquors, liqueurs and any kind of fruit drink mixer shaken with ice, strained and poured into an empty glass.
Layered drinks or layered shots are old style “Pousse-CafĂ©s”. Generally used for dessert-style drinks served in a large shot or pousse-cafĂ© glass. Layering makes use of the different weights or densities of the various liquids involved. Pousse-CafĂ©s are made and served at room temperature… unless the liqueurs and liquors are kept in the refrigerator or freezer. YouTuber MrFredenza demonstrates 5 top shot/shooter “Pousse-CafĂ©s” in the video below. Jägermeister is supposed to be kept on ice, in the refrigerator or in the freezer (and so is Bärenjäger). Goldschläger btw is NOT pronounced “Gold Schlager” as in “aah” but (because of the “umlaut” over the letter ä) the proper pronunciation of the a is exactly the same as with Jägermeister – GoldschlĂ„ger – LONG A – the same as in Bärenjäger where the Bären is pronounced Bearen, and the Jäger part is pronounced the same as in Jägermeister.
TRUE (as in traditional old school) “Pousse-CafĂ©s” differentiate themselves from Shooters in that their one goal is to produce strictly defined striations (stripes) of colors and flavors which don’t run into one another by demonstrating the Mixologist’s knowledge of specific densities of liquors and liqueurs, pouring skills, and (as much as is possible) ability to choose which liquors and liqueurs work well together. Pousse-CafĂ©s are also meant to be drunk slowly, layer by layer and not to be quickly thrown back as shots. Those were the old cultured and genteel rules of drinking. Today we’re working men and women and drink to relax, to have fun, to party and to have riotous times recovering on weekends from lots of hard work.
Shooter Cocktails aren’t always poured based on specific density of the liqueurs and liquors used. The Abortion Shot and the Alaskan Oil Slick for instance. The Alaskan Oil Slick WANTS to have the lower layers of Blue Curacao and Goldschläger mixed slightly to look like ocean water with gold flecks – fish?? in it. The Bob Marley Shooter does something no Pousse-CafĂ© would do – and that is to stir/mix the Golden Rum and Blue Curacao to be added as a single separate layer.
So modern bartending truly does go beyond the bartending of old by creating new rules. The inventiveness of American Cocktails made so famous by Prohibition when liquors had to be disguised in speakeasys to taste and look like something other than what they were hasn’t stagnated but grown – and one area in which it has grown most prolifically is in Shooters.
It is, in my professional opinion, that through Shooters the Bartender becomes more of a Mixologist today than ever before.
The Video below, as in the first video, shows that almost any popular drink can be made into a shooter using equal proportions of each liquor/liqueur plus a mixer (sometimes layered after pouring) and sometimes garnished.
Site Author, David J. Curtis: David Curtis, a seasoned professional with decades of bartending and bar management experience began his career in Midtown Manhattan, NY, tending and managing bars before diving into Manhattan’s bustling nightlife club scene. Over the years, he has mastered high-volume, high-pressure bartending as the lead bartender in iconic Midtown clubs and tended bar briefly in the Wall Street area, generating over $1,350,000.00 annually in personal drink sales. He has since extended his expertise to establishments in Georgia and now Tampa in Exclusive Platinum Service Awards Clubs, Florida. David’s roles as a Bartending Instructor at the American Bartending School in Tampa, while maintaining a second job bartending, and his years experience of managing bars, and working as a Brand Ambassador along with his extensive professional library of over 1,000 bartending books, highlight his dedication to continually refining his craft. He holds a diploma in Bar Management and is BarSmarts certified by Pernod Ricard.
