How Big Is a Handle of Vodka? Sizes, Shots and Prices

A handle of vodka is 1.75 litres. That is 59 ounces, about 39 shots, and roughly two and a third of the standard 750ml bottle. The name has nothing to do with the volume - the big bottles used to be moulded with a loop on the neck so you could carry them one-handed, and the nickname outlived the loop.

That is the answer. The more useful question is whether the handle is actually cheaper, and the honest answer is that it depends on the brand by a lot more than most people expect.

Every vodka bottle size, in plain numbers

• Nip or mini - 50ml, 1.7 oz, one shot.
• Half pint - 200ml, 6.8 oz, about 4 shots.
• Pint - 375ml, 12.7 oz, about 8 shots.
• Fifth - 750ml, 25.4 oz, about 16 shots. This is the normal bottle.
• Litre - 1L, 33.8 oz, about 22 shots.
• Handle - 1.75L, 59.2 oz, about 39 shots.

Shots are counted at an ounce and a half, which is the American pour. If you pour heavier, divide accordingly. The fifth is called a fifth because it used to be a fifth of a US gallon, which is 25.6 oz - close enough that the 750ml metric bottle replaced it in 1980 without anyone noticing.

How many shots in a handle

Thirty-nine. It is worth sitting with that number for a second, because it is the whole reason to buy one. Thirty-nine shots is a bar mitzvah kiddush, a sheva brachos, a Purim seudah with a full table. It is not a Tuesday.

Mixed drinks eat a handle faster. A vodka soda or a cosmo takes two ounces or more, so plan on about 29 drinks rather than 39. For a crowd of 30 people having two drinks each, you want two handles, not one.

Is the handle actually cheaper? Sometimes enormously

Here is the real arithmetic on bottles we stock, priced per ounce so the sizes are comparable.

• Smirnoff No. 21, 750ml - $16.99, about 67c an ounce. The handle is $22.99, about 39c an ounce.
• Tito's, 750ml - $24.99, about 99c an ounce. The handle is $34.99, about 59c an ounce.
• Grey Goose, 750ml - $34.99, about $1.38 an ounce. The handle is $69.99, about $1.18 an ounce.
• Lvov Potato, 1L - $17.99, about 53c an ounce. The handle is $29.99, about 51c an ounce.

Smirnoff's handle is 42% cheaper per ounce than its own 750ml. Tito's is 40% cheaper. Grey Goose is 14% cheaper. Lvov is 5% cheaper, which is to say barely.

Put the Smirnoff another way, because this is the number that surprises people: two 750ml bottles cost $33.98 and give you 50.7 ounces. One handle costs $22.99 and gives you 59.2 ounces. More vodka, eleven dollars less.

When not to buy the handle

Three cases, and they are all real.

When the saving is thin. If the handle is only 5% cheaper per ounce, you are paying up front for vodka you will drink over two years to save a dollar fifty. Buy the size you will finish.

When you are still deciding what you like. Thirty-nine shots is a long commitment to a bottle you are not sure about. Buy the 750ml, and if it earns its place, buy the handle next time.

When you want it on the table. A handle is heavy, it does not pour elegantly, and it looks like a warehouse. For a nice dinner buy the 750ml and pour from that.

Worth knowing on the Grey Goose line specifically: the 1 litre at $39.99 works out to the same price per ounce as the handle, near enough to the cent. If you want Grey Goose but not two months of it, the litre costs you nothing extra per drink.

The handles worth knowing about

Voda Premium, $17.99 is the cheapest handle we shelve, at about 30c an ounce. For a punch bowl or a big batch of vodka lemonade, nothing on the shelf beats it per ounce.

Smirnoff No. 21, $22.99 is the default party handle and the biggest saving over its own fifth. Three Olives, $29.99 and Lvov Potato, $29.99 sit just above it, the Lvov being potato rather than grain and noticeably rounder for it.

Tito's, $34.99 is the one most people are actually looking for, and it is corn-based and gluten free - we went through that in full in is Tito's gluten free.

Above that, Grey Goose and Russian Standard are both $69.99, and Russian Standard Gold is $74.99. If you want to know how those taste against each other, Grey Goose vs Tito's and Smirnoff vs Tito's both take a side.

One thing that is not a vodka handle

Everclear comes in a 1.75L too, at $42.99, and it is not vodka. It is grain alcohol at up to 190 proof - more than double a normal vodka - and it is meant for infusions and punches where you are diluting it, not for pouring shots. The Everclear guide has the proof-by-proof detail.

Storing a handle once it is open

Vodka does not go off. There are no tannins to oxidise and nothing to spoil, so an open handle is fine for years as long as the cap is on and it is out of direct sun. What it will do slowly is evaporate, and a handle that is a third full will lose more than a full one, so decant the last of it into a smaller bottle if it has been sitting since Purim.

Room temperature or freezer is a matter of taste. Cold vodka is thicker and reads smoother, which is a help with a cheaper bottle and a waste of a good one.

What to buy

• Big crowd, mixed drinks - Smirnoff handle, $22.99.
• Big crowd, people who will notice - Tito's handle, $34.99.
• Cheapest per ounce on the shelf - Voda handle, $17.99.
• One good bottle for the house - Grey Goose 1L, $39.99, same per ounce as the handle.

The whole vodka shelf is in one place, how much is a bottle of vodka runs through the price bands, and what vodka is made from explains why the potato ones taste different. If you are stocking a bar from scratch, start at how to build a home bar. Wine sizes work on a different ladder entirely - that is wine bottle sizes explained.