Free pour vs. jigger
By Marji · Updated · Sources and editorial policy
Free pouring is measuring spirits by count and eye; jiggering uses a measure. Free pouring is faster, but its accuracy varies from bartender to bartender, and any overpour lands directly on pour cost — so test your own pours before choosing.
Worked example · A hypothetical 15% overpour at volume
- Nominal pour
- 2.0 oz
- Actual average pour
- 2.3 oz
- Spirit cost
- $1.10/oz
- Drinks per week
- 900
- Annual cost of the drift
- $15,444
0.3 oz × $1.10 × 900 drinks × 52 weeks. The overpour here is an assumption; measure yours before costing it. It will never appear on an invoice.
The middle options
- Measured pourers — speed close to free pour, consistency close to jiggering.
- Jigger the expensive bottles. Free pour the well, measure anything above a cost threshold you set from your own bottle prices.
- Batch the cocktails. Pre-batching the spirit portion of high-volume cocktails removes the variance entirely and speeds up service.
- Test, then decide. Have each bartender free-pour into a jigger ten times and record the average and the spread before choosing a method.
Run the numbers
Pour cost calculator
The guide that works it through
How to Calculate Pour Cost for Liquor, Beer and Wine: Bottle, Keg and Glass Math
Cost a spirit pour, a cocktail, a draft pint and a glass of wine from bottle and keg sizes, then measure actual pour cost from inventory and find where the gap comes from.
Related terms
Pour cost
Food cost percentage for the bar — beverage cost divided by beverage sales.
Portion control
Keeping served portions equal to specced portions — the difference between the food cost you calculated and the one you get.
Variance
The dollar gap between theoretical and actual food cost — the money that left without a sale.