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The real trick is figuring out how many Old Fashioned cocktails you can make from one barrel of whiskey.

Creating a decent bottle of whiskey is a process — a wonderfully complex, and sometimes unpredictable process, at that. Throughout this journey, whiskey barrels play a key part in providing a stable container for maturation and also adding delicious qualities to what ends up in your glass. Perhaps you’ve wondered about these containers while sipping on a beloved rye or bourbon, and it piqued your curiosity: Once the whiskey reaches full maturation, how many standard bottles do distillers get out of a barrel?

As it turns out, that answer is just as complicated as the production process itself. While the United States doesn’t regulate distilleries’ barrel size, the most common whiskey barrel holds 53 gallons of unaged liquid. Craft spirit distilleries sometimes use smaller barrels and shorter aging stints to impart more flavor, Du Nord Social Spirits founder Chris Montana tells Food & Wine.

Before the second world war, the standard whiskey barrels would only hold 48 gallons. However, with resources such as lumber becoming scarce during wartime, American distilleries started using bigger capacity containers, reducing the amount of barrels needed. The challenge lies in estimating the amount of liquid once the aging process begins.

Related: How to Store High-End Whisky

As the years pass during the maturation of a spirit, evaporation naturally causes some liquid to disappear. This evaporation, known as the “Angel’s Share,” varies from batch to batch, and can even differ between barrels in the same rickhouse. The specific quantity lost is ultimately decided by nature, though certain environmental factors can provide an indication as to how much liquid may be lost.

Factors such as the geographical location, climate, temperature fluctuations, type of barrel, and environment of the rickhouse all have an impact on the final whiskey amount, according to Montana. Notably, even within a single batch, not two barrels yield identical results. However, blending and processing after maturation ensure the end product is consistent and of a satisfactory quality.

Given these factors, it’s difficult to determine exactly how many standard 750-milliliter bottles you’ll find in that common barrel size. Some distillers estimate that the average output shakes out to be 250 to 300 bottles, while others say it’s closer to a conservative 200.

“That’s what makes whiskey fun — unlike many spirits, whiskey is about choices, and you get to make so many of them along the way,” Montana says. “Most, if not all of those choices, will also come to bear when it comes to how much whiskey you’re going to be able to produce and what’s going to come out of those barrels.”

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Read the original article on Food & Wine.