Everything about Hogshead totally explained
A
hogshead is a large
cask of liquid (less often, of a
food commodity). More specifically, it refers to a specified volume, measured in
Imperial units, primarily applied to
alcoholic beverages such as
wine,
ale, or
cider.
A
tobacco hogshead was used in American colonial times to transport and store tobacco. It was a very large wooden barrel. A standardized hogshead measured 48 inches long and 30 inches in diameter at the head. Fully packed with tobacco, it weighed about 1000 pounds.
The
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes that the hogshead was first standardized by an
act of Parliament in
1423, 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 number of gallons of wine in a hogshead varying by type of wine:
claret 46 gallons,
port 57,
sherry 54; and
Madeira 46. The
American Heritage Dictionary claims that a hogshead can consist of anything from 62.5 to 140 (presumably U.S.) gallons.
Eventually, a hogshead of
wine came to be 63
gallons, while a hogshead of
beer or
ale is 54 gallons.
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.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hogshead'.
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