I must have been drinking with alcoholics during my pub-crawling
days. We always ordered beer by the pitcher ;-)
On 2009-03 -28, at 18:50 , Paul Trusten wrote:
Pubs and taverns are bastions of freedom. The American Revolution
was hatched in the Buckman and Monroe Taverns of Lexington,
Massachusetts, scarcely 3 kilometers from where I grew up. So, I
guess you could say that the pint is symbol of freedom's ferment
(grin). But, I fear that this same obsession with the standard
serving size of a brewsky will also befall us Yanks, as it has in
other countries. That won't be the end of it on this side of the
pond, though. In the U.S., there will be all kinds of requests for
exemptions from metrication and all kinds of fears that metrication
will take over in areas in which it may not belong. Upon the
announcement of the EU decision on supplemental indications, we saw
headlines about "British can keep their pints (of alcoholic
beverage poured in pubs)," as if this measure was the shibboleth of
metrication in Europe.
During the deliberations of a future U.S. Metric Board, these very
psychological issues have got to be talked out. The measurement of
goodsserved has to be clarified, so we won't have more customary-
unit martyrdom. However, the U.S. pint is smaller than a half
liter, and, as Pat suggests, there could be lobbying by the
American brewing industry to keep it as a serving size. Does
metrication belong in the pub, though? Can't bar patrons request a
size that it outside of legal metrology but agreed upon in the
drinkers' world? I would hate to see a Liliput-Blefuscu war break
out over quaffing a few.
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
Public Relations Director
U.S. Metric Association, Inc.
www.metric.org
3609 Caldera Blvd. Apt. 122
Midland, Texas 79707-2872 US
+1(432)528-7724
[email protected]
