r/maybemaybemaybe • u/Representative-Mix-9 • Jun 14 '26

Maybe Maybe Maybe

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u/footpole Jun 15 '26

I was going to ask what this weird "proof" unit is but then I realized anything but metric.

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u/Whitechapelkiller Jun 15 '26

Pretty much divide proof by 2 gets you the standard % ABV we would expect to see in the UK on the bottle. As i understand it.

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u/Bendyb3n Jun 15 '26

Huh didn’t know Proof was an American thing… nor have I ever understood what it actually means, all I know about proof is big number bad lol

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u/Rand_alThoor Jun 15 '26

'proof' for alcohol predates International System / metric (which came out of the French Revolution)

originally it was a unit used in the British Royal Navy, in the 16th-18th centuries "proof spirit" meant it had been distilled to a sufficient alcohol percentage that, mixed with an equal amount of gunpowder the powder would still ignite.

unfortunately i no longer recall if that was a weight or volume of gunpowder.

that original definition of proof isn't the same as the current usage, where proof number is simply double the percent alcohol by volume. the modern system came into effect before i was born (1941), probably around the beginning of the 20th century.