Why is alcohol sold by the fifth as opposed to the quarter?

Answer 1

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 hard liquor was heavily taxed.

It was $9 per gallon and $2.50 per quart.

The manufacturers sold liquor in a fifth of a gallon to avoid being taxed.

At first they only put a fifth of a gallon in the same quart bottles.

This won many court cases for the legal manufacturers looking to avoid the tax.

It took until 1938 for the gov't to change the tax law to incorporate "fifths" and "pints". However the fifth became the most popular way to purchase hard liquor. Due to being 25% less liquor than a quart and no tax, the fifth was appox. half the cost of a quart.

The fifth became such a standard that most people still purchase it that way. Even today more fifth's are sold than quarts. Today a fifth is actually 750ml and is still approx. 20-25% cheaper than a quart and only about 30% more expensive than a pint (375ml) even though it is twice the volume.

Answer 2

Its sold at 750ml which is very close to a fifth of a gallon. I guess 750ml sounds better than 937.5 mL (a 1/4 gallon)