American "Pint" vs European PINT!

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The bar downtown serves bottles mostly, and I'm glad to get a room temp glass to pour it in. They also have 1 tap of sometimes decent beer (I've seen some good Bells) and they serve in the same small glasses. I'm getting ripped off because I'll be lucky to fit the bottle of beer in the glass with no foam, and when they pour off the tap, you KNOW there is some foam in the glass!

But I also know the owner, and trust me if there is a way to make a few more cents, he's doing it! But he doesn't care much for good beer. Most people around here drink BMC only. I only go when I'm curious to try a good beer on tap (if they have it) and because I sometimes get a freebie for working on their computers.

I'll be keeping my eyes on the restaurants' glasses from now on though. This is surely a way to prove to my wife that there is another whole level of beer snobbery that I can attain.
 
Since we don't have a standarized, monitored system of draft delivery, the size of the glass is pretty irrelevant. How do you know what is too much to charge?
The only qualm a person could possibly have is an advertised pint not actually being a pint. Since we do not use glasses that have lines and use the same 14 or 16 oz mixing glass then a glass or a pint of beer in the US includes the head. Going abroad and finding it done diffrerently does not mean we are getting ripped off when it says a pint on the menu and they bring you a 16oz glass.
So many of you pay $7 for a glass of beer and its the glass that pisses you off? Does that mean as long as they give you 16oz of beer they can charge whatever they want and that's ok? Because thats the way its sounding.
 
uechikid said:
I want to know who pays $7.00 for a pint for beer!! Even at an expensive place $5.00 is the most I've seen.
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Me... Where i usually go for a beer, 5 bucks is cheap. some drafts go up to $11, and bottles that can get above $30. But they do have the greatest beer selection i've ever seen, paired with a knowledgeable staff and all the proper glassware, so to me, its worth it.
 
remilard said:
I've never seen a bar advertise "16 ounces of beer".

Here is what you see at a coffee house:

Latte
8 oz 2.50
12 oz 3.00
16 0z 4.00

Here is what you see at a bar.

Beer
16 oz 4
20 oz 5

In both cases what the volume is referring to (container volume or actual liquid fill level) is not explicit and normal people just buy what they want and go on with their day.
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That's a pretty weak argument. "Yeah, it's wrong but no one cares." First time I've heard that one. Bottom line: if businesses are shorting customers it's wrong and needs to stop.
 
northernlad said:
Since we don't have a standardized, monitored system of draft delivery, the size of the glass is pretty irrelevant. How do you know what is too much to charge?
The only qualm a person could possibly have is an advertised pint not actually being a pint. Since we do not use glasses that have lines and use the same 14 or 16 oz mixing glass then a glass or a pint of beer in the US includes the head. Going abroad and finding it done differently does not mean we are getting ripped off when it says a pint on the menu and they bring you a 16oz glass.
So many of you pay $7 for a glass of beer and its the glass that pisses you off? Does that mean as long as they give you 16oz of beer they can charge whatever they want and that's ok? Because that's the way its sounding.
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The brewpub I go to has 20 oz glasses so they can give you a full pint when you order it. This is in the U.S.
 
MeatyPortion said:
That's a pretty weak argument. "Yeah, it's wrong but no one cares." First time I've heard that one. Bottom line: if businesses are shorting customers it's wrong and needs to stop.
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If they advertise a pint then I would agree but most places say Draft no mention of what size other than regular or large or the type of glass. Just because we assume they mean pint does not make it so.So how is that shorting the customer ?
 
springer said:
If they advertise a pint then I would agree but most places say Draft no mention of what size other than regular or large or the type of glass. Just because we assume they mean pint does not make it so.So how is that shorting the customer ?
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Once again: I'm referring to advertising that states the size.
 
conpewter said:
The brewpub I go to has 20 oz glasses so they can give you a full pint when you order it. This is in the U.S.
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Of course there are places that do this.
What do they charge for a 20oz glass of somthing like SNPA?
 
I've been PO'd about this since I moved to the states, after growing up in Canada (where the metric system still gives us bigger beers). One of my first times at a bar in Boston I ordered a "pint" and it came back to me in a 16oz glass with no head. So of course I asked what was up with my small beer; wasn't a pint 20oz? "Not in this country" I'm told. Okay, lesson learned.

I had a renewed interest when I went to a Boulder bar and discovered that they were serving me "pints" in those 14oz glasses. So I looked into buying one of those 'beer gauges' but that won't do anything to help you if they use those glasses.
 
Cart said:
The key is getting businesses to do it voluntarily, and think it's their clever idea or marketing ploy. If a few market leaders pick up honest pint glasses,eventually everybody will, or they'll lose market share.
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Good point here...Maybe someone could start a group that would encourage big chains like buffalo wild wings, applebees and chilis to start pouring true pints. they could even use it as a ad campaign to draw in those fellers that like to pay $3.50 for a "pint" of big 3 lite. this would make the smaller guys follow the trend and over time it would hopefully trickle down to all the little bars and pubs across the country...theoretically...:tank:
 
I think lunarpancake almost got it. "Lets say your local bar pours an American pint where 15% of the beer is missing due to headspace. Every 6.66 beers you drink you 'll have been missing 1 entire beer". 6.66 beers!. I wonder who's really responsible for the missing beers... I don't know, maybe Satan??!
 
for all of you that agree with the 'if the bar advertises 16 oz they should pour 16 oz.'

2 things:
1, if the menu says fat tire, pint, $5, well that's ambiguous. That isn't necessarily 16 oz. of actual beer. It could very well mean, a pint glass full of fat tire, in which case they aren't lying.

2nd. how many times have you been to a bar and outside on the sign it says $3 domestics, $4 imports.
you go inside, get a fat tire, and it's $4.

OH NO. they are lying to me. fat tire isn't an import. This place should be shut down!

As long as it it isn't regulated, they can say whatever they want with no repercussions. Same with liquor. They have wells, calls, premium, top shelf, house, etc.. and there is no cut and dry line that places what liquor in what category. Just like 'imports' and 'domestics' with beer.

Just this weekend, i was at a bar, there were 3 categories (prices) of beers on a typed out list. Domestics, imports, and specialty. most BMC was in domestic, but fat tire and heineken were in specialty, while dogfish head, corona and blue moon were in import:drunk:
 
I don't know if this has been posted before (I didn't read the whole thread), but if it hasn't, here it is:

The pint is an English unit of volume or capacity in both the imperial system and in United States customary units. The imperial version is 20 imperial fluid ounces and is equivalent to about 568 ml, while the U.S. version is 16 U.S. fluid ounces and is equivalent to about 473 ml. Thus the traditional British pint of beer is approximately 20% larger than the American pint. One imperial pint is equal to 19.2152 US fluid ounces. Pints are commonly abbreviated as either “p” or “pt”.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint
 
Hopefully this has been answered by now, but I've read the first four pages of this thread and NOBODY had come up with the correct answer here. There's an awful lot of hand-wringing and frustration but nobody in the first four pages has a clue (no offense, intended). Both the British and the Americans are indeed selling a pint. A true pint, as defined by being 1/8 of a gallon. So why the difference in volume?

Because an Imperial gallon is larger than a US gallon. You figure this out pretty quickly if you ride a European motorcycle and have to figure out why mpg ratings vary so wildly from review to review.

The 14oz/16oz fight is totally legit, and the person who said a "European pint" was 500ml couldn't be more wrong if they tried. That's half a liter, metric, and has absolutely nothing to do with an Imperial measurement such a pint or quart beyond possibly trying to be a marketing technique.

I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed that in four pages nobody managed to research that difference or knew the answer. Hopefully it's been laid to rest somewhere between page 5 of this thread and here, but if not...? There it is.
 
EricShelton said:
Hopefully it's been laid to rest somewhere between page 5 of this thread and here
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Or, sometime in the last year and a half since anyone posted in this thread ;)

But I'm glad you resurrected it, I found my new favorite quote:

petey_c said:
"Lets say your local bar pours an American pint where 15% of the beer is missing due to headspace. Every 6.66 beers you drink you 'll have been missing 1 entire beer". 6.66 beers!. I wonder who's really responsible for the missing beers... I don't know, maybe Satan??!
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This thing is totally going in my signature, if I can figure out how to get it there...
 
EricShelton said:
Hopefully this has been answered by now, but I've read the first four pages of this thread and NOBODY had come up with the correct answer here. There's an awful lot of hand-wringing and frustration but nobody in the first four pages has a clue (no offense, intended). Both the British and the Americans are indeed selling a pint. A true pint, as defined by being 1/8 of a gallon. So why the difference in volume?

Because an Imperial gallon is larger than a US gallon. You figure this out pretty quickly if you ride a European motorcycle and have to figure out why mpg ratings vary so wildly from review to review.

The 14oz/16oz fight is totally legit, and the person who said a "European pint" was 500ml couldn't be more wrong if they tried. That's half a liter, metric, and has absolutely nothing to do with an Imperial measurement such a pint or quart beyond possibly trying to be a marketing technique.

I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed that in four pages nobody managed to research that difference or knew the answer. Hopefully it's been laid to rest somewhere between page 5 of this thread and here, but if not...? There it is.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you didn't read the OP properly. It's not about the volume of a US pint V Imperial, it's about allowing extra space in the glass for the head.
 
Lunarpancake said:
Seriously.....what is happening is nothing short of robbery. Or American lazyness.

If we were being ripped off at the gas pump by being short-pumped people would be freakin' FURIOUS.
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Well said...X2
 
Surely the big thing here is that if you don't know exactly how much you are being served, you can't really control how intoxicated you are. This has to be a good reason for standardizing the size of a "pint". I see lawsuits....
 
grahamtwatson said:
Surely the big thing here is that if you don't know exactly how much you are being served, you can't really control how intoxicated you are. This has to be a good reason for standardizing the size of a "pint". I see lawsuits....
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Except the argument "Your honor, it's their fault that I was not MORE drunk because they ripped me off" aint gonna fly as a defense for ANYTHING.
 
grahamtwatson said:
Surely the big thing here is that if you don't know exactly how much you are being served, you can't really control how intoxicated you are. This has to be a good reason for standardizing the size of a "pint". I see lawsuits....
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Oh great, here come the commercials from the Law Offices of Graham T. Watson and Associates. I thought it was getting bad with the mesothelioma, Yaz, and bladder mesh ones. :p
 
We small government types hate to hear that story, actually. I can get my favorite bartender to be honest with me without having to make taxpayers pay a man to be the beer police. If you think you're getting chiseled, let the barman know. or the manager. and if you continue to get chiseled, walk.

$0.02, please


JMG680 said:
In England a Pub can be fined heavily if they do not sever you a perfect pint, and that is in both size and temp. I was at a Pub that an inspector walked in, asked for 3 pints and after they were pored he showed his badge, took the temps of the beers and made sure they were all the correct size. It was awesome to see someone keeping the Pubs honest.
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EricShelton said:
The 14oz/16oz fight is totally legit, and the person who said a "European pint" was 500ml couldn't be more wrong if they tried. That's half a liter, metric, and has absolutely nothing to do with an Imperial measurement such a pint or quart beyond possibly trying to be a marketing technique.

I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed that in four pages nobody managed to research that difference or knew the answer. Hopefully it's been laid to rest somewhere between page 5 of this thread and here, but if not...? There it is.
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Alright... here we go (per google conversions):

Code: 
Serving      US Ounces     UK Ounces     mL
-------      ---------     ---------     ---
US Pint      16            16.7          473
UK Pint      19.2          20            568
0.5 L        16.9          17.6          500

That's if they're filled to the brim (or marked line) in a standard glass. The half liter is really closer to a US pint than an Imperial pint.

The moral of the story is... drink in German. You'll know what you're actually getting. (At home I'm a fan of the 12 oz pour into a Duvel glass... the liquid comes right up to the top of the lettering).
 
Shooter said:
Oh great, here come the commercials from the Law Offices of Graham T. Watson and Associates. I thought it was getting bad with the mesothelioma, Yaz, and bladder mesh ones. :p
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Oh god no, I am *not* a lawyer, do not play one on TV and have no desire to. My take on the law is that it's for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men. However, as a frugal Yorkshireman, I do expect to get every drop of the beer I just paid for.
 
grahamtwatson said:
Oh god no, I am *not* a lawyer, do not play one on TV and have no desire to. My take on the law is that it's for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men. However, as a frugal Yorkshireman, I do expect to get every drop of the beer I just paid for.
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Well, I'll buy your story for now...but I'VE got my eye on you!!! :D
 
In Denver the 14oz "pint" glasses sprung up about 5 years ago. Almost all of the non-specialty beer joints switched to them. For a few years you even found people labeling them as pints on their menus, but that has disappeared as I bet the office of units and measures called them out on it.

Problem is, taking "pint" off the menu really didn't solve the problem as 98% of people had no clue as to what was going on. In fact I made a habit of playfully asking server how big the glass was. Rarely would I find somebody who actually new how much beer they were serving me. (Obviously the owners wallets knew.)
 
Lunarpancake said:
Does this piss anyone else off as much as it does me? I know we are all home-brewers but still, knowing that all those people out there on any given night are missing a good portion of each brew really bothers me!
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So when's your first AA meeting?

Kidding.

I do loves me my imperial pint glasses.
 

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