Variations in bottle sizes question

Metric vs imperial measurement, standard size for European bottles tends towards 330ml, which is 11.2oz.

 

I always wondered why the standard US beer is 12 oz...where did that number come from?

 

I wonder that and why 12 and 6 packs...everything a multiple of 6...

 

This doesn't have a specific answer, so my theory is that it probably was more about popular opinion/marketing than anything; that's what I gather from the googling I've done, anyway.

Pretty cool read though:

http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/ExportBeerBottles_BLockhart.pdf

They make mention of 12oz size around page 5.

I have also heard a theory that it's about ABV relative to a shot of 100 proof liquor, in that 1oz of 100 proof = 5oz of wine = 12oz of beer. Clearly a lot of wiggle room on those measurements but, that's an interesting angle too.

 

In the US in the Pre-Prohibition Era, when the primary product of the majority of brewers was kegged beer and a lot of bottling was done by independent bottlers (thus the still used phrase "Bottled at the brewery"), the bottling industry, both bottlers and manufacturers, had two basic sized of beer bottles which the called "pints" and "quarts" - but those were nominal "sizes" and the pint bottles themselves might hold 12-13-14 ounces (and an even greater variation for "quarts" as can be seen in this page of "Export" (aka "longneck") bottles from a 1906 catalog of the Illinois Glass Co. or this page of "Champagne" (aka "select") style bottles (one of which is 17 oz. - go figure). I always figured the 12/13 oz. bottle was typical because it was approximately 1/10 of a gallon.

By Repeal (when most brewers were bottling their own beers), the brewing industry had primarily settled on 12 oz. bottles as the standard, with some brewers on the west coast using 11 oz. bottles. Later true 16 oz. pints and 32 oz. quarts became popular sizes, the latter especially during WWII to save metal (fewer crowns).

Beer cases were and typically still contain 24 bottles (why? It was just a standard quantity, like a dozen eggs) - with quarts typically packed 12 to a case. The beer "sixpack" as we know it was a post-Repeal development, the "quarter of a case" quantity picked according to industry legend (with some reliable contemporary sources like industry-backed surveys confirming it) because, as the beer market increasingly went from on-premise to off-premise, more women bought beer during their shopping trips and that was the preferred maximum carrying weight of those consumers. But 8, 10 and 12 packs were also available from some brewers, especially after lighter "throw-away" bottles and cans came to the market.