Years ago in Stirling Scotland I likely got my only true pint of beer. The fluid crested over the glass holding it through the miracle of surface tension and the bartender told me to lean over and take a first draw off the top to avoid losing too much. That was a fine pint. Every other of the 63,574 glasses of beer I've had, well, I assume they are pretty much near enough and don't really worry that much.
But there are those who have questions. NPR ran a news story last week about a movement in Portland Oregon to standardize glasses in response to "falsies" or "cheaters," the latter being my word for the drug store reading glasses I now seem to wear. "Falsies" appear to be slightly related to the Aussie question of what is a "pot" and what is a "schooner" as both they relate to uncertainty as to the size of a measure. As the Wall Street Journal explained last June, "falsies" are 14 ounce glasses that look like 16 ounce ones. So, unlike CAMRA's campaign for the full pint and against short pouring, a "falsie" is full but not perhaps the measure as expected. For some, falsies are very bad indeed.
Associated with this is an overabundance of beer sizes which have left some in the UK concerned over the proposed two-thirds pints glass. As the Times of London reported this weekend:
...a two-thirds pint could become a standard measure in bars and restaurants next year under proposals announced yesterday by the National Weights and Measures Laboratory...The concept of a "twother" for the sale of draught beer and cider is included in a shake up of weights and measures out for consultation until the new year. Other proposals are to allow pubs, supermarkets and wine merchants to sell small measures of wine less than 75ml for tastings and samplings, and to ban 250ml servings of wine by setting 175ml as the maximum serving.
Again, for many, a two-thirds pint will be a very bad thing indeed, too. There is huge attachment to the measure of the pint in the UK to the point that even the 2007 exchange of the crown for a EU symbol on each glass indicating legal measurement caused consternation - not to mention discussion in Parliament.
I think my lack of concern with falsies and full pints is that I am Canadian. We live in a mixed up world where some measures are the English imperial one, some are US-based and some more are metric. As a result, I tend to think of whatever is in front of me as the proper measure of itself. Am I a soft mark? I don't think so. See, the first thing is I am so grateful to actually find a glass of beer in Canada worth pondering that I seldom ponder its true length. Then, I have no sense that we have standard price of beer as each pub, tavern or bar I have ever graced sets prices that seem to have more to do with the class of establishment rather than the quality of beer in the glass. Finally, the glassware you will be served can be anything from eight to twenty ounces if you ask, as most Canadians do, for "a beer" - the range being illustrated so very poorly up there to the left from this 2004 post of mine.
Maybe you have different thoughts? Maybe this is a cultural thing? Maybe it's just me but I sort of value the session out by other things than a 4% +/- variance on glass fills.
Comments
Jeff Scott - October 26, 2008 11:12 PM
My concern isn't with the size of the beer, it's getting what's advertised.
If the menu says $4 for a pint, I expect a pint for $4. Same way that at the gas station it says a $3.49/gallon, I expect a gallon for that $3.49.
Knut Albert - October 27, 2008 5:58 AM
Scrap the law, and tell the pubs to put up a price list, perhaps with a scale to convert between the systems. To change the legislation for a pub to be able to offer beer and wine in different fractions of liters or imperial pints is over the top, even for Britain.
BTW, times are slowly changing. I bought half a kilo of chestnuts in a London market last week.
Paul Garrard - October 27, 2008 10:17 AM
In the UK we have a strange mix of measures. We have supposedly been metric since the 1970s. Draught beer is in pints as is doorstep deliveries of milk. Petrol is in litres. loose fruit and veg was in grams/kilos etc but I believe there has just been a ruling that some traders can mark up food in lbs and ozs again. It's a funny old world.
Jim - October 27, 2008 10:50 AM
You know those ever present American tumbler "pint" glasses? They're really 14 oz. glasses. They're not a true pint (16 oz.). A lot of times you'll see a beer menu with a list of prices and next to it, it'll say the size as a pint or even 16 oz. It's a lie when they put it in those glasses. Better beer bars should be using nonic type pint glasses (the one in your picture with the bulge at the sides) to give the few extra ounces.
What a lot of people are really pissed about is that some bars aren't even filling the 14 oz. glass. They'll give a pour with a 1 inch head or even give a blatantly short poor. Some of the problems are that some bartenders don't know how to properly pour a glass of beer. They waste a lot by letting it spill over to get it to the brim (good for the customer, bad for the bar). Eventually, this waste adds up and can cost the bar money.
I'd like to see more bars using glassware that has a fill line. Those glasses allow room for a decent head, while giving the proper amount of liquid in the glass for the consumer.
I can't speak for Canada or the UK, however, as I'm not familiar with issues there (the bars I visited in New Brunswick gave a great pour in a large 18-20 oz. tankard, only time I ever drank in Canada, but huge British influence in that part of the country).
zythophile - October 27, 2008 2:39 PM
jim - Better beer bars should be using nonic type pint glasses (the one in your picture with the bulge at the sides) to give the few extra ounces.
Ugh, no - Noniks are the ugliest glasses ever, they do nothing for the drinking experience and the only excuse for using them is to avoid "nicks" in the rims, hence the name. (I was amused, but not a lot, to see them featuring in ads for Bud American Ale, presumably to add some fake "pub authenticity".)
I'm agnostic about specific glass sizes, beyond "large", "medium" and "small" - does anyone fuss about the exact size to the fluid ounce/centilitre of the vessel their coffee comes in?
Alan - October 27, 2008 3:06 PM
I think that makes me a Zythophileophile on this point.
Steve - October 27, 2008 5:09 PM
Most people in North America have come to consider a "pint of beer" as just referring to the style of glass that the beer is served in and not the specific volume of the liquid in that glass. We've become used to the idea that any beverage served in an open container can and will vary between establisments. Ordering a "pint" of beer has about the same meaning as asking for a "medium".
Jim - October 27, 2008 10:29 PM
Some beer doesn't require much more than that type of glass. I find the bulge helps me hold onto it after I've had a few. :)
I know the point behind the bulge and it does look funny, but few bars use glasses that look like the standard American "pint" glass, yet hold an actual pint.
It's not the size of the glass people care about, it's the amount of beer they're getting. If an establishment has on their menu "16 oz", you should get 16 oz. Those standard American "pint" glasses only hold 14 oz. When I order a pint of beer, I expect an actual pint. An American pint is still 16 oz, regardless of whether or not the glass that has become known as the "pint" glass (aka tumbler) holds a full pint.
I've never been to England and have no idea what the glasses look like over there. Here in the US, they're mostly 14 oz. glasses, unless a bar uses Imperial pints (nonics usually) or specialty glassware (tulips, snifters, goblets, etc).
Andrew Cormie - July 9, 2010 1:12 PM
I hope everyone who reads this will write to their MPs demanding that the Government completes the consultation CA 003/02 which can be read at http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file19498.pdf and that the Government take full notice of the LACORS comments on the consultation which can be found at http://www.lacors.gov.uk/lacors/ContentDetails.aspx?id=2426
LACORS is the Local Authority Coordinators on Regulatory Services and their comments are scathing against the Government proposal. I would say that any right thinking person who reads the LACORS comments and fails to demand measure to line glasses must be overly influenced by the licensed trade.
The following was sent to me in answer to my question to Government as to what had happened to consultation CA 003/02.
"The answer is that the outcome of the consultation conducted in 2002 was inconclusive, as was the case with the previous two consultations on the 'full' pint of beer. You will have seen from the Ministerial reply to your letter of 25th May that the current Government is not planning any change to the policy on the 'full' pint."
This raises the question - What is the Government Policy on the "full" pint?
I have written again to my MP asking what is the policy - as it has been mentioned. I have also demanded that the consultation be properly completed as it should never be the case that because the Government does not get the result it wants it can stop the consultation and not publish the results.