jigger is a small and handy liquid measure used in constructing mixed drinks, as opposed to the measures used in retailing spirits. See spirits measure. The name, also spelled “gigger,” is an Americanism for “a new device that otherwise lacks a name” (it is related to “thingamajig”). The first purpose-made jiggers appeared in the 1870s to replace the sherry glasses and liqueur glasses that had been used previously with silver-plated metal cones. These were provided with stems for easier handling, and in the hands of a skilled bartender they could be used practically as fast as free-pouring. Their nominal capacity was a wineglass—two ounces, or 60 ml—but the surviving examples that have been measured are usually significantly smaller. Originally, a cocktail was sized so that the total volume of its major components was one jigger, and many cocktail recipes were stated in fractions of that jigger.
By the end of the nineteenth century in the United States the jigger had evolved into a double affair with a large and a small cone (wineglass and one-ounce “pony”) joined at their apexes. Meanwhile, bars in the United Kingdom had adopted jiggers of their own. These were sized according to the “out” system, where, for example, a “three-out” jigger held a third of a gill (50 ml) and a “six-out” jigger held a sixth of one (25 ml). These were distinct from the government-regulated measures used for straight spirits. In the 1970s, they were replaced by metric spirits measures. Elsewhere, jiggers were rarely used, or at least rarely standardized, with the significant exception of Japan.
The twentieth century saw the prevailing jigger size in America (where drink size is not regulated) slip from two ounces to an ounce and a half to, often, an ounce and a quarter. This decline was reversed by the Cocktail Renaissance, which brought back the two-ounce jigger, although the total volume of the major components of a cocktail is generally three or even four ounces (90 or 120 ml).
See also cocktail proportions and cocktail recipes.
McElhone, Harry. ABC of Mixing Cocktails. London: Odhams, 1922.
Rogers, Smith & Co.‘s Illustrated Catalogue and Price List of Electro Silver Plate N.p., 1878.
By: David Wondrich