If you do any reading about Scotch, or whiskey in general, you’ll often read people talk about having a dram of Scotch. Intuitively we know it’s some measurement, that we pour a bit of the golden (or amber or whatever, depending what you prefer!) elixir, call it a dram, and go about our merry way enjoying it.

But, what exactly is a dram?

Historically, a dram was a coin, a unit of mass, and a unit of volume.

For volume, it’s an eighth (1⁄8) of a fluid ounce.

So there you have it, a dram is an eighth of an ounce… but in reality it just means “a wee bit” when you talk about Scotch. No one is holding a measuring spoon when they measure out their drams!

(Photo: stephangeyer)

General Dram