After a bit of froth, Britain settles for a pint 95% full

AP via Newark Star Ledger ^ | March 19, 2002 | N/A

[Incorrigible]

LONDON -- The government had promised beer drinkers a full pint of ale, but it announced yesterday that 95 percent was the best it could do.

Pubs that serve pints less than 95 percent full could face prosecution, the government said. The current minimum is 90 percent.

[Incorrigible]

Finally, some government regulation I can approve of!

 

[Arthur McGowan]

How pathetic that supposed adults are incapable to telling the bartender for themselves that he's cheating. An infantilized population--the Nanny State has to watch over them and protect them from even the tiny stress of speaking up for themselves.

[Incorrigible]

It's the third way!

[r9etb]

How pathetic that supposed adults are incapable to telling the bartender for themselves that he's cheating.

Hey, a guy who shorts me my beer deserves to feel the full weight of the law.....

[Cicero]

Now, answer me this. Is a skilled bartender someone who pours a mug of beer with only a little froth, or someone who pours it with a lot of froth? The article isn't clear on this point.

[Cincinatus]

The full pint was one of Prime Minister Tony Blair's election pledges, and as recently as January a government minister assured the House of Commons that "any short measure is a clear public scandal."

Ah,....there'll always be an England!!! Their 1000-year old constitution is being thrown into the toilet, but never get between and Englishman and his pint!

There is another solution to this -- every public house in Britain is within walking distance to another public house. Take thy pint-purchasing business elsewhere!

[gorush]

Great! The tax was just lowered from 10% to 5%.

[KC_Conspirator]

An infantilized population--the Nanny State has to watch over them and protect them from even the tiny stress of speaking up for themselves.

That is exactly my thoughts. The federal government now thinks that it has to tell bartenders how to pour a beer? At any rate, this sounds like yob behavior got its way.

[vin-one]

this is absolutely hillarious, just last weekend I sat next to a couple from
England, he was a regular at this neighborhood bar, and was giving the bartender,
a hard time over how she poured his pint. she would fill his glass,
let me take a big drink and then refill it. I jumped in as well and she took care of me also.
It was all in good fun, but I think he was dead serious,
and he kept saying in a strong British accent, You Yanks, don't know how to pour a decent pint.
That guy was a hoot.

[LibertyGirl77]

"Campaign for Real Ale"

You can't make this stuff up! I love it!

[JenB]

It comes in pints? Thought you might like to read this - just for fun.

[Constitution Day]

You've just got to respect a country that takes its pints this seriously!

[Overtaxed]

That's a 20 oz. pint and not a 16 oz. pint, I take it.

[AnalogReigns]

Probably half of the American brew-pubs I've gone to will short their pints. Usually an inexperienced or rushed bar-keep pouring in too much foam, but worse sometimes are the glasses with the thick bottoms...DESIGNED to hold no more than 14 ozs....

[Constitution Day]

This article made me a bit thirsty, but not peckish!

[southernnorthcarolina]

I have sets of U.S. standard pint glasses, and of British pint glasses. Big difference.

The U.S. glasses hold precisely 16 ounces, when filled to the very top. I'm quite sure I've never received a full pint in such a glass.

When in London, I noticed that the pint glasses had a small mark on them indicating the pint line. I purchased eight pint glasses at a shop to take home. They hold 20 ounces (the "Imperial pint") when filled to the rim. Filling the glass to the 16 oz. mark left plenty of room for a head; in fact, since most British beers and ales are less carbonated than ours, that's more than enough room. Most of the "pints" I got in pubs over there were 17 or 18 ounces.

They do indeed take their beer seriously there. Pubs close early, but they are required by law (which generally is posted in the establishment) to allow "drinking up time," which is either 15 or 20 minutes, as I recall. My favorite London pub, near the Embankment tube stop, was one I helped close down a few times. The procedure was the same each night. Five minutes before the legal closing time, the bartender rang a bell, and called out "Fair warning! Closing in five minutes!" This was the equivalent of our "last call," and caused a flurry of refills. Promptly at closing time, the bell was rung again, and the bartender called out "Time, ladies and gentlemen, please! Drink up!" And fifteen minutes later, the lights were turned up to blinding intensity, and the bartender called out to the few customers who were left "Time, ladies and gentlemen, please! You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"

The last thing a departing customer sees is a sign on the inside of the front door, requesting consideration be given to the pub's neighbors. It says "Thank you for your custom. Please leave quietly."

There will always be an England.

[gcruse]

 An infantilized population--the Nanny State has to watch over them and protect
them from even the tiny stress of speaking up for themselves.

Yeah.  The government even tells them what
size toilet tanks they can have in their homes...
wait a minute.  That's us.  Never mind.
 

[Jakarta ex-pat]

"she would fill his glass, let me take a big drink and then refill it."

I wouldn't try that in the UK! :-)

[vin-one]

excuse me, it should have been she would fill his glass, and let him take a big drink
then refill it for him. I would never take a drink away from a big brit like him.....

[KarlInOhio]

The pint is one of the great totems of British life, and the nation won an exception for the pint measure from the European Union's requirement for metric measures.

I worked hard at typing up a smartass comment about where is the "Metric Gestapo" (pint, mein Herr? Vee only serve haf-liters here), but the article already had it. One tiny piece of British sovereignty left. It was a good empire while it lasted.

" 'E could 'a drawed me off a pint," grumbled the old man as he settled behind his glass. "A 'alf liter ain't enough. It don't satisfy. And a 'ole liter's too much. It starts my bladder running. Let alone the price." -- 1984, George Orwell