Hogshead
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/English_wine_cask_units.jpg/220px-English_wine_cask_units.jpg)
A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commodity). More specifically, it refers to a specified volume, measured in either imperial or US customary measures, primarily applied to alcoholic beverages, such as wine, ale, or cider.
Varieties and standardisation
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Sugar-Hogsheads_-_Ten_Views_in_the_Island_of_Antigua_%281823%29%2C_plate_X_-_BL.jpg/220px-Sugar-Hogsheads_-_Ten_Views_in_the_Island_of_Antigua_%281823%29%2C_plate_X_-_BL.jpg)
A tobacco hogshead was used in British and American colonial times to transport and store tobacco. It was a very large wooden barrel. A standardized hogshead measured 48 inches (1,219 mm) long and 30 inches (762 mm) in diameter at the head (at least 550 L or 121 imp gal or 145 US gal, depending on the width in the middle). Fully packed with tobacco, it weighed about 1,000 pounds (454 kg).
A hogshead in Britain contains about 300 L (66 imp gal; 79 US gal).[1]
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes that the hogshead was first standardized by an act of Parliament in 1423[which?], though the standards continued to vary by locality and content. For example, the OED cites an 1897 edition of Whitaker's Almanack, which specified the gallons of wine in a hogshead varying most particularly across fortified wines: claret/Madeira 46 imperial gallons (55 US gal; 209 L), port 57 imperial gallons (68 US gal; 259 L), sherry 54 imperial gallons (65 US gal; 245 L). The American Heritage Dictionary claims that a hogshead can consist of anything from (presumably) 62.5 to 140 US gallons (52 to 117 imp gal; 237 to 530 L).
Eventually, a hogshead of wine came to be 63 US gallons (52.5 imp gal; 238.5 L), while a hogshead of beer or ale is 54 gallons (250 L if old beer/ale gallons, 245 L if imperial).
A hogshead was also used as unit of measurement for sugar in Louisiana for most of the 19th century. Plantations were listed in sugar schedules as having produced x number of hogsheads of sugar or molasses. A hogshead was also used for the measurement of herring fished for sardines in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick and Cornwall[2].
Etymology
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/US-Stamp-Beer-1867-2_dollars_%281_hogshead%29.jpg/220px-US-Stamp-Beer-1867-2_dollars_%281_hogshead%29.jpg)
English philologist Walter William Skeat (1835–1912) noted the origin is to be found in the name for a cask or liquid measure appearing in various forms in Germanic languages, in Dutch oxhooft (modern okshoofd), Danish oxehoved, Old Swedish oxhuvud, etc. The word should therefore be "oxheaved", "hogshead" being a mere corruption.[3]
A hogshead of Madeira wine was approximately equal to 45–48 gallons (0.205–0.218 m3). A hogshead of brandy was approximately equal to 56–61 gallons (0.255–0.277) m3.
Charts
gallon | rundlet | barrel | tierce | hogshead | puncheon, tertian | pipe, butt | tun | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | tun | |||||||
1 | 2 | pipes, butts | ||||||
1 | 1+1⁄2 | 3 | puncheons, tertians | |||||
1 | 1+1⁄3 | 2 | 4 | hogsheads | ||||
1 | 1+1⁄2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | tierces | |||
1 | 1+1⁄3 | 2 | 2+2⁄3 | 4 | 8 | barrels | ||
1 | 1+3⁄4 | 2+1⁄3 | 3+1⁄2 | 4+2⁄3 | 7 | 14 | rundlets | |
1 | 18 | 31+1⁄2 | 42 | 63 | 84 | 126 | 252 | gallons (wine) |
3.785 | 68.14 | 119.24 | 158.99 | 238.48 | 317.97 | 476.96 | 953.92 | litres |
1 | 15 | 26+1⁄4 | 35 | 52+1⁄2 | 70 | 105 | 210 | gallons (imperial) |
4.546 | 68.19 | 119.3 | 159.1 | 238.7 | 318.2 | 477.3 | 954.7 | litres |
gallon | firkin | kilderkin | barrel | hogshead | Year designated | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | hogsheads | |||||
1 | 1+1⁄2 | barrels | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | kilderkins | |||
1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | firkins | ||
1 | 8 | 16 | 32 | 48 | ale gallons | (1454) |
= 4.621 L | = 36.97 L | = 73.94 L | = 147.9 L | = 221.8 L | ||
1 | 9 | 18 | 36 | 54 | beer gallons | |
= 4.621 L | = 41.59 L | = 83.18 L | = 166.4 L | = 249.5 L | ||
1 | 8+1⁄2 | 17 | 34 | 51 | ale gallons | 1688 |
= 4.621 L | = 39.28 L | = 78.56 L | = 157.1 L | = 235.7 L | ||
1 | 9 | 18 | 36 | 54 | ale gallons | 1803 |
= 4.621 L | = 41.59 L | = 83.18 L | = 166.4 L | = 249.5 L | ||
1 | 9 | 18 | 36 | 54 | imperial gallons | 1824 |
= 4.546 L | = 40.91 L | = 81.83 L | = 163.7 L | = 245.5 L |
See also
References
- ^ "AP John Technical Specifications" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-15.
- ^ https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001617/18601205/057/0004?browse=true
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 507.
- ^ "wine barrel". Sizes. 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
- ^ "English Beer and Ale Barrel". Sizes. 2002-01-23. Retrieved 2018-03-27.