I've seen a lot over the years around pour lines. I am a fan of glassware indicating a line showing a volume that beer should be poured too. I've been to so many breweries that serve, bars, taverns with staff looking at you like your crazy to ever question a pour as being under. A little information on this in Canada a pint is slowly becoming a generalized term with a lot not knowing it is an imperial volume of measure, 20 oz or 568 ml. It is actually a federal law in Canada under the Goods & Standards Act if any business is advertising a pint they have to pour one and or which ever volume indicated. No less and with our close relationship with the USA, 16 oz 'pints' here and their are advertised incorrectly as being one. One Canadian fluid ounce is 28.6 ml, and in the USA it is 29.4ml. Most standard pitchers are supposed to be 60 oz (American/Canadian?). Growler fills are nearly always 64 oz USA. European glassware other then the UK is 500 ml marked and pitcher's having a line at 1.5 litres. Recently I visited a few new breweries and questioned them about their glassware, pour lines, volumes, and pint differences with no surprise all levels of staff not knowing anything about what I was talking about. Businesses have a responsibly to train staff and to also ensure what their advertising and serving match. Whats everyone's experiences both locally, out of town, out of country? I make it a point to talk and get to know breweries I travel to especially local, most are shocked to know they're wrong and with one complaint they could get in trouble with the tax man. Lastly in Canada their is definitely a generational divide in more then one sense. Canada has been metric since the 1980s. Going forward forty year the young are used to ml/litres to oz/gallon. Thoughts?
@Electros thanks for being an advocate for properly sized pours. I personally would prefer that all draft retailers would use glasses with a fill line but frankly I do not have much hope that this will happen in the US. The only way I really see this happening is if the government (e.g., US federal government) would mandate this. Below is from Wikipedia concerning Germany: “Germany Germany has had a number of weights and measures acts specifically addressing volumetric markings on glassware. Local and state laws have since been superseded by the federal Mess- und Eichgesetz [de] ("Measurement and Calibration Act"), which in turn was updated to implement the EU directive. All glassware used in a commercial setting is required to have a marking indicating the volume of the container, along with an identifier that indicates the manufacturer. The manufacturer identifiers are issued by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig, such as "Bö" for Böckling, "ra" or "rastal" for Rastal, or "Sahm" for "Sahm", or "Kö" for Kössinger. The technical specifications are written towards ensuring consumer protection. The fill line must be horizontal and at least 10 mm long; depending on the size of the glass, a certain distance is required to the rim of the glass. Some glasses may also have a second fill line half-way down the glass.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fill_line If a US congressperson were to suggest legislation for a fill line mandate I suspect there would be a number of special interest groups within the beer industry who would likely lobby against it. I suppose if there was a robust reaction by beer consumers to have fill lines something could happen but I personally do not envision this happening. Heck, I would be happy if draft beer retailers would just stop using cheater shaker pint glasses which appear to be 16 ounce glasses but with their thick bottoms only has a capacity of 14 ounces. Cheers!
Great follow up. Thanks for this! I am going to go to my local brewery later today because they have some new glassware releasing along with a new IIPA whoose name is tied into the shape design and I am going to question them about all of them above. As mentioned within the subject they recently changed pouring sale prices which one was labeled a pint but I couldn't see the volume. Another brewery I follow recently announced they added 60 oz pitchers to their tap room options. I messaged them just curiously asking on the manufacturing/distribution end when ordering these saying you advertised 60 oz. I can't see a pour line so what fluid level does staff know is considered an accurate pour, American it Canadian? The none response was a let down but common. "Hey, good question / they are 60oz pitchers so by virtue of that fact they are accurate." I have a second local brewery and if I have time I will go there too. They've recently rebranded with new owners, names, and merchandise. Perhaps if any of you have the time have a friendly chat with your local brewer and gage their knowledge/interest on the subject? I would love to hear it! I completely agree about until governments say marked levels on glassware are now the must would be the way to go but it's interesting more breweries don't request them made that way.
How many of us are mug club members and receive a ceramic mug as part of the membership? One of my places where I'm a member says that I get a 20 oz pour as one of my benefits, but I have my doubts that the mug is even 16 oz. The other place says their mugs are 16 oz but I also have doubts about that. And both places only fill the mug to about an inch from the top. Someday I'm going to take a 16 oz bottle of water to these places, pour it into my empty mug and see what I'm really getting.
Great idea. The same thought crossed my mind. Also I have a few glasses at home marked as one pint (Canadian and American). Ask to fill them up with water and transfer to the other glass.
