Bottles of Milk

In Quirk et al. (A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Longman, 1985), we see this example:

He drinks as many as three bottles of milk a day.

In this sentence, the focus is bottles, and the number of bottles is important.

But, this sentence also seems acceptable:

He drinks as much as three bottles of milk a day.

In this sentence, the focus is milk, the quantity of milk.

As many as must be followed by a cardinal number with a plural count noun (or with plural count noun understood):

(a)	He drinks as many as three bottles of milk a day.
(b)	Gertrude wants as many as five children.
(c)	Henry watches as many as twenty-five television programs per week.
(d)	If you take that road, you’ll see as many as twenty old, abandoned plantations.
(e)	The pizza company delivers as many as two hundred pizzas per night