What goes wrong

The fill was wrong

On this page10

The size is not authorized It usually arrives through a bottle you liked Nominal capacity is not fill capacity The headspace reads as a short measure The net contents statement disagrees with the fill Check before the mould, not after And check the list every time Fill to a line, not to a look And watch temperature at filling References

The expensive version of this is discovered after the glass is made.

The size is not authorized

The worst outcome in this craft, and it is entirely preventable by checking a list of twenty-five numbers. A 600 mL or 800 mL bottle is not a bottle you may sell distilled spirits in.

It usually arrives through a bottle you liked

A supplier shows a beautiful bottle, its nominal capacity is close to a legal size, and nobody checks whether it actually fills to one. Close is not on the list.

Nominal capacity is not fill capacity

A bottle sold as 500 mL may brim at 520 and look wrong filled to 500, or may struggle to hold it with any headspace. The standard of fill is about what is in the bottle, not what the bottle is called.

The headspace reads as a short measure

Especially on clear glass. Two products at the same declared net contents can look like different quantities on a shelf, and the customer trusts their eyes over the label.

The net contents statement disagrees with the fill

A mandatory statement that does not match what is in the bottle is a labeling problem and a measurement problem at once, and the fix is upstream in the filling line rather than on the label.

Check before the mould, not after

If a custom bottle is involved, the standard of fill and the actual fill level are settled at the mould stage. After that they are extremely expensive to change.

And check the list every time

Twenty-five numbers, on a card, next to the bottle catalogue. It is the cheapest control in this property and it prevents the costliest failure.

Fill to a line, not to a look

Set the fill by volume on the line and verify by weight, with the density of the actual spirit rather than water. Proof changes density, so a checkweigher calibrated on one product will be wrong on the next.

And watch temperature at filling

Spirit expands and contracts appreciably over a working temperature range. A line filling accurately at one temperature and running warm after a few hours will drift, and the drift is in the direction of a short measure.

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 5.63, mandatory label information. Brand name, class and type designation and alcohol content appear in the same field of vision, so that "all of the pieces of information can be viewed simultaneously without the need to turn the container". Name and address and net contents may appear anywhere on the container, and the net contents "may be blown, embossed, or molded into the container". law.cornell.edu

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.