A note about a few things below. In UK pubs only pint and half pint glasses are legal. All have to have the royal mark struck on it with the word 'pint' beneath.
I need to ask one simple question on your authority of the "fact" that my fellow beer drinkers are constanctly happy with being short changed and getting exactly a metric rounded figure in their pint glasses. That is, Have you been to a British pub? (not a theme pub in australia, mind) Regardless of the answer to this question I realise that I'm probably not going to convince you that aussie pubs that sell 20oz pints really *DO* sell 20oz pints. Not if you've already convinced yourself that pubs up and down this land are serving illegally sized drinks, regardless of TSO's activities. (Did you know they threatened to close an austrian theme pub down for serving in 500ml glasses?) -----Original Message----- From: Pat Naughtin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 22 January 2005 10:24 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; U.S. Metric Association Subject: Re: [USMA:32021] RE: A half litre of beer please. Dear Stephen, I have interspersed some remarks. on 2005-01-22 01.07, Stephen Humphreys at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > In Australia there are many different sizes, some with bizzare names. > But the 20oz pint is still used in some areas. Traditionally names were used in selling beer in Australia with quite distinct regional properties. For example a 'pint' in New South Wales was 568�mL (20 old imperial fluid ounces) while a 'pint' in South Australia was (and I believe still is colloquially) 426�mL (15 old imperial fluid ounces); a 'schooner' in Victoria was 425�mL and a schooner in the Northern Territory was 284�mL. The diversity of these names had the effect of concentrating the minds of the drinkers on their xenophobia instead of questioning how much beer you actually got in your 'pint' glass. As an example a NSW 'pint' of 568�mL supplies about 500�mL of beer to the customer. Brewing companies here are just as keen as UK brewing companies to maintain these illusions and they continue to supply pubs with unmarked 'pint' glasses. I have seen glasses with 568�mL written on them but most 'pint' glasses have no markings at all. I think that marking a glass with the word 'pint' is no longer legal. I have measured some of these unmarked glasses and all that I measured were less than 568�mL and all different to each other. It seems to me that 'pints' in Australian pubs vary according to the whimsy of the brewers and the publicans. An example in Australia, is the Guinness company that supplies a 440�millilitre can of dark beer and you can also obtain a glass to hold this amount (including the froth). The glass is marked with the Guinness Harp but there is no mention of the quantity that it might hold � it is commonly called a 'pint' but I have no idea of its true capacity; all I know is that you only get 440�mL of beer in your 'pint' glass (an increase of about 29�% for the brewing company). > When I go to my local pub here in the UK I ask for a pint of cider > (usually strongbow) [note for US readers: Cider in the UK is the same > as 'hard cider' in the US] > > If they run out of Strongbow I have a Magners (its actually an Irish > Cider) > > They give you a pint glass and a bottle of magners. > > On the side of the bottle it says "1 pint, 568 ml" Clearly (pun intended), the cider company knows that they cannot get away with the same subterfuge used by beer makers. If they tried you would see right through their attempted cheating (tee hee). However it means that the cider company is providing you with about 13�% more liquid that a beer company does. > I then pour the contents of the bottle into the pint glass supplied by > the bar staff. > > I carefully pour it until there's nothing left in the bottle - holding > it vertically I wait for the drops to stop. > > What I then have is a pint glass full to the brim of cider (no > miniscus). > > Carefully I pick up the pint that is full to the brim and take a sip > from it so that I can walk with it without causing spillage. > > This is how it is. > > Honestly. Cheers, Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)* PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia Phone 61 3 5241 2008 Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com and clicking on 'Newsletter'. * Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual � for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email.
