non drinkers who want to write about booze to seem tough, we really need to talk, at length and about a great many things, but first of all: containers.
Distilled liquor in the US comes in 3-5 basic sizes, depending on where you're shopping and the brand. In order of decreasing volume, they are:
A handle. 1.5L or 1.75L depending on brand. The handle gets its name because it's a big fucking jug of booze that frequently has, you guessed it, a handle for ease of carrying and pouring. This next part is important so pay attention: your character is not going to drink directly out of a handle, no matter what kind of hard boiled badass they are. It's just too big and fucking awkward, for one thing, and for another they all have these little pour-control doohickeys in the neck to keep you from accidentally sloshing half your booze out on the first pour. It would be like drinking coffee directly out of the pot or something: yes, possible, but you're going to want to have some kind of weird reason for it to be happening. It's not normal drinking behavior and it's not even normal problem drinking behavior. Characters from Thor comics are allowed to drink straight from a handle, they must use two hands to do it, and they must gripe about the pour spout thingy and engage in shenanigans while trying to pry it out.
A fifth. 750ml. This is a regular sized bottle and the most common. It's called a fifth because it's roughly 1/5 of a gallon, and since booze is one of like 3 things in the US that we measure in metric, we had to get an imperial measurement reference in there somewhere. This guy is the one you're going to have a character in distress drinking directly out of. Be advised that it is still a lot of alcohol for one person to drink. I have trained very hard at drinking and I have never finished a fifth by myself without taking at least one break to sleep and/or puke. A bigger guy than me or an extremely dedicated alcoholic could probably down a fifth in a long night of drinking, but it's a lot. If your character doesn't drink regularly or have supernatural powers, they're going to have a very bad time after going solo on an entire fifth in one sitting and they may potentially need medical attention. ***important note: if you're an idiot 20 year old who is in real life putting an entire 5th of vodka in your fucking borg for day drinking, fucking stop it, you're gonna die that way.***
Pint. 375ml. A pint is also a common beer serving, but if we're talking distilled liquor, this bottle is usually flat, kinda flask shaped for convenient storage in a bag or possibly a really big pocket. This guy is fairly easy to stash and carry around without attracting attention.
Half pint: 200ml. Alert readers will notice that this is actually slightly more than half of 375 ml, but whatever. It usually looks like a baby version of the pint: flat and flask shaped. It's even easier to sneak around with it.
50ml. These have all kinds of names that vary by region and even by neighborhood. Shooters, airplanes, minibottles, whatever. This is a standard shot and also a formal single serving size of distilled liquor. If you're confessing to your doctor and they ask how many drinks you've had, each 50ml serving of hard liquor counts as one drink. Lie accordingly.
Bonus round: occasionally you'll find imports in liter bottles (cachaça, my beloved) and I've also seen 100ml mini bottles a few times, mostly vodka for whatever reason. I have not a single clue how all this shit is measured and packaged anywhere else on earth other than the US, but if that's where your story is taking place, these are the booze sizes available to your characters.
Go forth, have responsible fun, and write drinking better!!
(P.S. if you think your fic in particular inspired this post, I promise you it did not. Many, many fics have committed many many booze crimes, never fear, you all have plenty of company and frankly I'm glad you don't know this crap: it means you're taking good care of your liver, and there's not a damned thing wrong with that.)
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