A shot glass is a glass originally designed to hold or measure spirits or liquor, which is either

imbibed straight from the glass ("a shot") or poured into a cocktail ("a drink"). An alcoholic beverage
served in a shot glass and typically consumed quickly, in one gulp, may also be known as a
"shooter" or “shot”.

Shot glasses with a variety of designs. Shot glasses such as these

are often collected as novelty items.
Shot glasses decorated with a wide variety of toasts, advertisements, humorous pictures, or other
decorations and words are popular souvenirs and collectibles, especially as merchandise of a
brewery.[1]

Name origin[edit]
The word shot, meaning a drink of alcohol, has been used since at least the 17th century, while it is
known to have referred specifically to a small drink of spirits in the U.S. since at least the 1920s.
[2]
The phrase shot glass has been in use since at least the 1940s.[3][4]

Earliest examples[edit]
Some of the earliest whiskey glasses in America from the late 1700s to early 1800s were called
"whiskey tasters" or "whiskey tumblers" and were hand blown. They are thick, similar to today's shot
glasses, but will show a pontil mark or scar on the bottom, or a cupped area on the bottom where the
pontil mark was ground and polished off. Some of these glasses even have hand-applied handles
and decorations hand crafted using a grinding wheel.
In the early to mid-1800s, glass blowers began to use molds and several different patterns of
"whiskey tasters" in several different colors were being made in molds. These glasses are also thick
like today's shot glass but they will have rough pontiled bottoms from being hand blown into the
mold. By the 1870s to 1890s as glass making technology improved, the rough pontiled bottoms
largely disappeared from glasses and bottles.

Shot-measuring tools[edit]
Jigger[edit]

Variety of jiggers
A jigger, also known as a measure, is a bartending tool used to measure liquor, which is typically
then poured into a glass or cocktail shaker.
The term jigger in the sense of a small cup or measure of spirits or wine originates in the U.S. in the
early 19th century. Many references from the 1800s describe the "jigger boss" providing jiggers of
whiskey to Irish immigrant workers who were digging canals in the U.S. Northeast.[5][6]
The style of double-ended jigger common today, made of stainless steel with two unequal sized
opposing cones in an hourglass shape, was patented in 1893 by Cornelius Dungan of Chicago.
[7]
Typically, one cone measures a regulation single shot, and the other some fraction or multiple—
with the actual sizes depending on local laws and customs.
A contemporary jigger measure in the U.S. usually holds 1.5 US fluid ounces (44 ml),[8] while the
jiggers used in the U.K. are typically 25 ml or sometimes 35 ml. Jiggers may also hold other amounts
and ratios, and can vary depending on the region and date of manufacture. Many jiggers may also
have fractional markings on the inside of the bowl, to facilitate smaller measures of liquid.
In the U.S. up until Prohibition, a jigger was commonly known to be about half a gill, or 2 US fluid
ounces (59 ml),[9] but starting in the latter part of the 20th century, it is typically interpreted to be 1.5
US fluid ounces (44 ml).[10]
Measuring shot glass[edit]

Two shot glasses with fill lines designating 20 and 40 ml measures

A shot glass graduated in smaller units such as half-ounces,[11] teaspoons, tablespoons, or millilitres.
They are useful for precise measurement of cocktail ingredients, as well as in cooking recipes that
call for multiples of a smaller unit (e.g. several teaspoons), allowing the dispensing of the amount in
a single measure.