With our own take on the English language and soda, it’s no surprise that the way we describe liquor sizes in Newfoundland is often different than how the rest of Canada does. If you’re planning to visit Newfoundland, prepare yourself for how we describe liquor bottle sizes with this handy guide.
Flask
This is perhaps the only one of the liquor sizes in Newfoundland that seems unused elsewhere. We call a 375ml (13.2oz) bottle of liquor a “flask”. Sources say that 88% of Canadians refer to this bottle of liquor as a mickey. You surely won’t hear it referred as that in Newfoundland.
2-6
Newfoundland uses the metric system for its measurements, as does the rest of the country. However, liquor is often referred to as its size in ounces. A 750ml bottle is most often called a “two-six” in the province. You can hear this elsewhere in Canada too, though “twenty-sixer” seems more common. Us Newfoundlanders will sometimes call it a “two-sixer” as well.
40
A 1.14L bottle of liquor is called a “forty,” once again based on the ounce measurement. Not much to report here – this is the go-to way to describe this bottle all across Canada. Supposedly some Canadians call it a “forty-pounder,” but as Newfoundlanders here at NL Times, that confuses us.
60
We in Newfoundland mimic Canada again here, calling the 1.75L bottle of liquor a “sixty.”
Texas Mickey
This is our favourite size! 3L of liquor is known as a “Texas mickey,” though they are not too common here. Canada calls them the same thing. Maybe we should instead call it the Quebec mickey after Canada’s largest province?
Beer Sizes
All right! Now you know all about the liquor sizes in Newfoundland, but what about beer? With so much beer that is exclusive to the province, any beer-lover needs to know these sizes!
2-4
A “two-four” has 24 bottles of beer, simple. These are not all that common in Newfoundland, with only a few brands available in this quantity. We’ll also note here that bottles of domestic beer in Newfoundland (but not craft beers) are all 341ml. The bottles are a bit shorter than the average beer bottle from Canada, but the whole country says “two-four.”
Case
What a case of beer refers to differs around the world. In many places, a case of beer may contain 6, 12, or 24. In other places, any of these quantities could be called a case. But in Newfoundland, a “case” of beer is 12 bottles, always. If you’ve got less or more than 12 bottles, you’ve got something else!
Half Case
With differing sizes of cases elsewhere in Canada and the world, it would be useless to call anything a half case. Well, in Newfoundland, it’s simple. Since all cases have 12 beer bottles, “half cases” contain 6.
Cans
This one might be a bit difficult. For decades, domestic beer in Newfoundland has been sold in 8-packs of 355ml cans. So if you ask someone to pick you up some “cans” of Lucky Lager from the store, they’ll know that you want 8 because there is no other quantity. This applies to all domestic beer. If you’re buying some imported beer, you better specify how many you want! Calling a beer “domestic” isn’t limited to the ones exclusive to NL. Giant brands such as Budweiser and Molson Canadian are sold in these domestic sizes as well.
Tallboy
A “tallboy” is a 473ml can of beer. Once reserved as the popular serving size of imported beers in the province, many domestic ones are now available in this serving. This can be credited to their popularity at convenience stores. Previously selling only larger quantities, these stores began selling single cans in the tallboy size in the mid 2010s. They’re sometimes called “pint cans,” but less commonly.
With plastic bags banned in the province, make sure you take a reusable shopping bag. Now you are ready to hit the Liquor Store!
