Standards of fill

Choosing a size

On this page8

Is it on the list Does the trade recognise it What does it do to the warning type size And what does it do to the case Where the catalog can actually help Read those numbers for what they are The useful case is the unusual size References

The legal question is settled by a list. The commercial question is not.

Is it on the list

The first filter, and it is binary. Twenty-five sizes, and anything else ends the conversation regardless of how good the bottle is.

Does the trade recognise it

A distributor sheet, a bar inventory system and a retail shelf all have expectations. 750 mL and 375 mL are recognised everywhere; 331 mL will need explaining in every conversation for the life of the product.

What does it do to the warning type size

Containers of 237 mL or less take a 1 mm minimum. Above that to 3 L it is 2 mm. Crossing 237 mL is a real layout change, which matters when choosing between a 200 mL and a 250 mL split.

And what does it do to the case

Case count, case weight and the cost of shipping a case all follow from the bottle. A size that works on a shelf and costs too much to ship is not a size that works.

Where the catalog can actually help

Containers exist at 12 of the 25 sizes. 475 mL has 110, 945 mL has 59, 355 mL has 54, 250 mL has 21, 100 mL has 19, 200 mL has 15, 500 mL has 12, 50 mL has 8, 710 mL has 7 and 750 mL has 3.

Read those numbers for what they are

They are what a general packaging catalog holds, not what a glass decorator offers. For a classic 750 mL spirits bottle the right supplier is a glass house, and we can source rather than shelve it.

The useful case is the unusual size

If the plan is a 475 mL or a 945 mL product, there is real depth here and it is depth a specialist liquor bottle supplier may not have, because those are not sizes the category defaults to.

References

27 CFR 5.203(a), the standards of fill: "The following metric standards of fill are authorized for distilled spirits, whether domestically bottled or imported" — 3.75 L, 3 L, 2 L, 1.8 L, 1.75 L, 1.5 L, 1.0 L, 945 mL, 900 mL, 750 mL, 720 mL, 710 mL, 700 mL, 570 mL, 500 mL, 475 mL, 375 mL, 355 mL, 350 mL, 331 mL, 250 mL, 200 mL, 187 mL, 100 mL and 50 mL. law.cornell.edu

27 CFR 16.22, legibility of the health warning. Minimum type size of 1 mm for containers of 237 mL or less, 2 mm above that through 3 L, and 3 mm above 3 L; "GOVERNMENT WARNING" in capitals and bold with the remainder not bold; characters not compressed, at a maximum density of 40 characters per inch at 1 mm falling to 12 at 3 mm; readily legible under ordinary conditions on a contrasting background; and labels affixed "in such manner that they cannot be removed without thorough application of water or other solvents". law.cornell.edu

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 17 October 2026. The spirits shelf is 419 rows: 192 containers and 227 closures, 149 PET and 43 glass, 30 to 710 mL with a median of 118. Across the whole catalog, containers exist at 12 of the 25 authorized standards of fill, including 110 at 475 mL, 59 at 945 mL, 54 at 355 mL, 21 at 250 mL, 19 at 100 mL, 15 at 200 mL, 12 at 500 mL, 8 at 50 mL, 7 at 710 mL and 3 at 750 mL.

Written from 27 CFR 5.63, 5.203, 16.21 and 16.22, and from the catalog as it stood on 17 October 2026. Distilled spirits are federally permitted and separately regulated by every state; label approval, permits and formula approval are outside what these pages cover, and nothing here is a substitute for TTB guidance on a specific product.