On Sat, 12 Dec 2020 21:39:20 -0500, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:

> > It's so strange that someone would want to divide a gallon into 5 parts. I think that dividing a gallon into 2, 4, or 8, parts is much more sensible.

> It was probably to align with 750 ml wine bottle from Europe. They use
> the ancient metric system over there.
I always thought it had something to do with taxation but apparently
not. It seems to have been some sort of marketing or pricing ploy
instead:

"In the late 19th century, liquor in the US was often sold in bottles
which appeared to hold one US quart (32 US fl oz; 950 ml), but in fact
contained less than a quart and were called "fifths" or commercial
quarts. At this time, one-fifth of a gallon was a common legal
threshold for the difference between selling by the drink and selling
by the bottle or at wholesale, and thus the difference between a
drinking saloon or barroom and a dry-goods store."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_(unit)

--
Bob
Who buys his booze by the liter