Scots Pint

Scotland’s own pint, holding roughly 1.7 litres, or about three imperial pints. Its physical standard was the Stirling Jug, held by the burgh of Stirling.

Scottish burghs held physical standards for their measures, and the Stirling Jug served as the master for liquid capacity across the country. At nearly three English pints, the Scots pint was a substantially different proposition, and the disparity caused genuine confusion in cross-border trade. The Treaty of Union in 1707 required Scotland to adopt English measures, but the older ones persisted in speech and in rural practice for generations, which is why Burns can refer to a pint and mean something no English reader would picture correctly.