The case for spirit
Like apples and oranges, counting cases of spirits means counting varying numbers and types of containers. On the other hand, if a conversion to the metric system in the U.S. is slow in coming, the spirits industry is clearly a leader, with spirits (and wine, for that matter) sold entirely in metric containers.
Beer, on the other hand, is packaged in a hodge-podge of different sized cans and bottles, six-packs, growlers (1/2 gallon), kegs and so forth, while overall production is measured in barrels, defined as 31.5 U.S. gallons, not to be confused with a barrel of oil which is 42 gallons. A pony or quarter-barrel keg is 7.75 gallons.
Of course, there are also some metric oddballs, such as a Jeroboam, for example, which is three liters, or a Nebuchadnezzar, which is 15 liters.
Statistics on spirits sales, as released by NABCA, are based on the equivalents of cases of spirits in twelve 750-milliliter bottles per box. As readers of the Montana Tavern Times know, there's much more variety involved.
For example, in the 3,481 cases of Firefly Sweat Tea Vodka referred to in the main article, those cases consist of:
• 3,154 cases of 750 ml (12-pack)
• 239 cases of 1.75 L (6-pack)
• 46 cases of 1 L (12-pack)
• 16 cases of 375 ml (24-pack)
• 26 cases of 50 ml (60-pack)
NABCA converts all these mixed case sales reports to 750 ml bottle equivalents.