Half pours at breweries/bars

Why is craft beer so expensive in Germany? I've always been under the impression that Germany was a land of relatively cheap decent beer

 

The places in Southern California that offer craft half-pints seem do so very successfully.

The best of them use 8oz glasses and charge 1/2 of what a pint of that particular beer would cost...plus $1.

I’ll happily pay the small surcharge for the 1/2 pint option if it allows me to explore more of the beer menu.

 

Perhaps to some extent but over here a bar where bud is 3$ a pint is likely to have SNPA for 5$ a pint. Even at extravagant craft bars there are usually some options in the 5-6$ a pint range.
Stuff hitting at 11$ a pint would be either a slow sour style or some kind of ba big beer

 

I would love it if America had this system and marked fill levels on glasses and such.

It's crazy that it's just standard practice in the US that a draft "pint" of beer could be anywhere from 12 to 16 oz of liquid. Most shaker "pint" glasses are only 16 oz if filled to the brim.

 

I wish that I could go back in time and get a "short beer" for 35 cents.

 

When was that? I started going to bars in NJ in 1972 and don't remember short pour being that cheap.

 

That sounds high to me* - especially for a "short" beer, which to me would have been in a small 5-6 oz. "shell" glass served as a chaser. A 'regular' sized beer would have been a 7- 8 oz. sham pilsner, for 25-35¢.

*Obviously, it is very dependent on one's age and the time period. But US bars tried for a very long time to maintain the "dime glass of beer" into the 1950s. (Sadly, the hoped for "nickel glass of beer" that was supposed to return after Repeal did not materialize in most areas). They did it in most areas by reducing the standard size of the glass.

You don't? I sure to - two bucks on the bar, 4 - 5 glasses of Schaefer playing a few games of pinball - leave a quarter or two (big tipper!) for a tip. Granted, in NJ beer prices weren't quite as reasonable as in next door PA., say in Wilkes-Barre where they still had two local breweries:

 

I'm not able to go to breweries that often, so offering smaller pours is a big deal to me. If half pours aren't offered, I probably won't go back. I like to try as much as I can when I go.

 

I love places that do 4oz or 5oz pours and only charge like $2.5 or $3. Generally I can have a standard pint of a lighter ABV brew and a 4-5oz sampler of one of their bigger beers and feel very satisfied and out the door in less than 1 hour and only dropped around $10 for the experience.

 

I'll trust your mind more than mine. I just remember pours being called large and small with no mention of # of OZs. The places I went to had a policy called rounds, buy 3 and #4 was free.

 

Yeah, over the years doing research I've found it pretty interesting how little info can be found on the topic - besides it not being common to list draft beer prices in ads or reviews (in part, I think, because draft beer was so cheap - why even bother?) some states also prohibited the advertising of alcohol prices.

I remember well, however, mid-70s two incidences. One was a bar a friend worked at. I asked for a mug of beer and he shook his head and gave me the glass, instead. As he explained, they served "regular" size beer in a 7 oz. sham pils glass for 35¢ and a 10 oz. mug (looked big, but had a false bottom) for 70¢.

Around the same time, I stopped into a bar that had recently re-opened under new management in the neighborhood I grew up. Threw a buck on the bar, got a glass of Schaefer and a quarter back and I was shocked "Wha?! 75¢ for a glass of beer!" The bartender went to cash register and gave me a token that read "Good For One Draft Beer". I was very proud of myself for complaining (and getting the token ) but still determined I'd never go there again. Then, as I sat there I noticed that everyone ordering a beer got that same token, automatically. It was just their way to ensure beer sales and was, maybe, "easier" on the customer than raising prices from 35¢ to a full 40¢.

Here's another example while I was in college that's pretty damn amazing to me today - a grown man complaining and really "doing the math" in his column in a local newspaper over a nickel increase of draft beer - going from 15¢ to 20¢. (Notice his emphasis on those poor college kids being ripped off).
1970 RANT

(I mean, sure, the Federal minimum wage was $1.60 but I remember making $2/hr at both my jobs in NJ during that time.
6 minutes of work = 1 glass of beer.
I'll take it!)

In some older articles (1940s - 1950s) as beer prices went up bar owners tended to change the size of the glass, since there was customer resistance to using pennies. So, in Boston 1953, a standard beer went from a 7 oz. glass for a dime to a 10 oz. glass for 15¢ - rather than just bumping the 7 oz'er to 11¢.

Yup, I miss that , too - tho' I wouldn't want it done today with the "pint" the standard. 2 beers and I'm outta there these days. Also the "pay as you go" method with your change sitting in front of you - I hate having to wait for the bill, which sometimes also means you have no idea how much your beer is until after you've consumed it.

 

Thanks for explaining your BA name. Now I understand why you are called ScaryEd...

 

I know a few places where drinkers still put cash on the bar and pay by the beer. Of course one doesn't put a Lincoln these days more like a Grant.

 

Personally, I'm a fan of half pours. Sometimes a full pour is a poor choice for an individual. Locking consumers into a full pour, specifically of higher alcohol options, can create over-drinking and over-serving issues.

Although, I do understand that this option imposes more logistics on the establishment, which may not be justified. Ultimately, it's the businesses's decision, but as a consumer, the option to buy half pours is a service I frequently seek.

 

Rhinegold was $.20

Rheingold was $.20 for a 7-8 ounce glass at the local bar which I frequented in the early 70's in Kenilworth NJ..

 

Just to be able to answer your question we went there for lunch. My 16 oz beer cost $4.17, 26 cents per oz. Her 10 oz cost $3.47, so 35 cents per ounce so the 10 oz is more expensive per ounce. But she drank all of hers whereas if she had a 16 she would not have finished it

 

The real question is would you pay a premium for the half pour, or do you expect it to be the same price per ounce as a full pour?