Smirnoff Bottle Sizes and Prices: 750ml, 1L and the Handle
Smirnoff is the vodka most people buy without thinking about it, which means the only real question is which bottle to pick up. Here are the sizes, what each one costs, how many drinks are in it, and which is the better buy.
The sizes and the prices
Smirnoff No. 21 is the plain, unflavoured one — the red label. It comes in three sizes here.
- Smirnoff No. 21, 750ml, $16.99 — the standard bottle. About 16 drinks.
- Smirnoff No. 21, 1L, $19.99 — the liter. About 22 drinks.
- Smirnoff No. 21, 1.75L, $22.99 — the handle. About 39 drinks.
All three are 40 percent alcohol, 80 proof. Same liquid, three bottles.
Which size is actually the better buy
Work it out per liter and it is not close.
- 750ml — $22.65 a liter
- 1L — $19.99 a liter
- 1.75L — $13.14 a liter
The handle is roughly forty percent cheaper per drink than the 750ml, for six dollars more up front. If the bottle is going to get finished — a simcha, a kiddush, a bar cart that gets used — there is no argument for the small one. The 750ml earns its place when you want vodka in the house and do not want a lot of it, or when it is travelling somewhere.
Handle is bar slang for 1.75 liters, from the loop of glass that used to be moulded into bottles that size. We wrote out the whole thing in what a handle of vodka is, including the shot count, and there is a wider piece on what a bottle of vodka costs across the shelf.
You will also see a second 750ml listing
Same vodka, same 40 percent, sold under the Triple Distilled name rather than the No. 21 name. If you are choosing between them on price, take the $16.99 No. 21.
Smirnoff No. 57 — the strong one
Same house, same ten-times filtering, bottled at 50 percent instead of 40. That is a quarter more alcohol in every pour, so a drink built to the usual recipe comes out noticeably stronger.
Where the higher proof earns its money is anything that dilutes: batched cocktails over a lot of ice, a punch bowl, a fruit or pepper infusion that needs the alcohol to pull flavour out. In those, 80 proof goes thin and 100 proof holds.
Green apple, and the gluten question
- Smirnoff Green Apple, 1L, $19.99 — 35 percent, the Granny Smith one.
- Smirnoff Green Apple Gluten Free, 750ml, $14.99 — same flavour, built on a corn base and labelled gluten free.
The flavoured bottles are 35 percent rather than 40, because the flavouring goes in after the spirit is cut. They are sweeter than the plain vodka and they are meant for mixing — apple martinis, sours, or a long pour with ginger ale and lime.
On gluten: if the label matters to you, the corn-based green apple bottle is the one that carries it in writing. There is more on where vodka comes from in what vodka is made from, and we did a separate piece on the green apple bottle. For a gluten-free plain vodka, the Tito's question covers it.
Buying more than one
The whole Smirnoff shelf is in one place, and the wider kosher vodka shelf runs to nearly seventy bottles. Order as many as you need — twelve handles for a wedding is a normal Tuesday here.
None of the Smirnoff bottles are marked Kosher for Passover. If that is the list you are shopping from, go to the Kosher for Passover spirits shelf.
Smirnoff against the others
Smirnoff sits at the bottom of the price ladder and does the job it is asked to do: clean, neutral, no rough edges, invisible in a cocktail. It is not a sipping vodka and it does not pretend to be. We put it head to head with the obvious rival in Smirnoff vs Tito's.
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