Last night the hosts of Beer Nation went to a relatively new bar in Brooklyn to enjoy a few pints of their favorite brews. Little did they know the bar didn’t serve pints.
While Mike ordered a Keegan Ales Mother’s Milk (a Milk Stout) from the tap, Seth went with a 12 ounce can of Oscar Blues Gordon (an Imperial Red/Double IPA). As Seth finished pouring his delicious can of Gordon into the glass provided by the bar — which was the same size as Mike’s glass of Mother’s Milk — he noticed how uncomfortably close the 12 ounces-worth of Gordon came to the top of the glass. ”That’s not right,” your hosts thought. ”The 12 ounces of beer should only fill three-quarters of a 16 ounce pint glass.”
As the bartender later confirmed, the bar uses fake pint glasses (i.e., 14 ounce glasses rather than 16 ounces glasses). What a sham!
This bar lists a solid line-up of craft brews on the chalkboard near its bar, but nowhere on that chalkboard does it say that the beer is served in 14 ounce glasses. Making the situation even worse, the glasses look and feel like 16 ounce pint glasses! (How do they make it look bigger? As shown in the graphic, they thicken the bottom of the glass. Jeez.)
This pint glass scam has been covered before. But, while I expect this kind of behavior from an Applebees or T.G.I. Fridays, I was shocked to see it happen at a bar in Brooklyn, only blocks away from craft beer meccas like Bierkraft and The Gate (where all serving sizes are indicated next to each beer on the beer menus).
Citizens of Beer Nation, unite! If you find a bar trying to pull this scam, let it know you’re on to its dirty tricks and demand that it either switch to 16 ounces pint glasses or properly inform patrons of the size of its glasses.
It would seem to me that you owe your readers the name of said Brooklyn establishment. That would be an example of fair and open journalism.
I noticed this trend in Washington, D.C. about 3 years ago. The glass I noticed it with didn’t have the thicker bottom, instead, it looked like a pint glass, but was slightly miniaturized. Nobody else noticed, but I knew it didn’t feel right in my hand. After that experience, I noticed more glasses like it and many like the thick bottomed glass you found. Not one of these bars or restaurants had posted that the “pints” were less than 16oz. It hurts to feel like you’re being robbed of beer. But I guess you gotta do what you gotta do in this economy.
Sam, with regard to identifying the bar by name, that is something that we carefully considered. In the end, we decided to leave the name out (for now) and give this new bar a chance to rectify its mistake. Concurrent with our blog post, we emailed the bar and gave it a choice: either replace the glasses with proper pint glasses, or indicate on its beer menus and boards that the glasses are 14 ounces. We are still waiting for a response.
We will update our blog when we hear back from the bar. Depending on the nature of its response, we may decide to identify the bar in a future blog post (along with any other bars we learn are pulling the same scam). In the meantime, I advise you ask about the serving sizes at any bar where the size is not indicated on the menu or board. (Also, there are enough clues in our post to help you find the bar we are referring to and ask them yourself.)
Why should we stop by merely bringing the standard back to 16? We should look to our neighbors to north and across the pond. When you order a frosty pint of your favorite beer in Canadian and British bars you will be served a 20-ounce pour. In some ways it might be nice that our 16-ounce pints allow us to try a variety of beers in a session before losing the capacity to speak or walk in straight lines, but I still find it irksome that while I sit at a bar in Greenpoint and reach the bottom of my pint of Lagunitas Sumpin’ Extra, I know some dude in Manitoba has an extra 4 ounces of deliciousness to go!
Were the beers at unsaid bars listed as “pints”, or do you guys just have way too much time on your hands? I have worked in a number of Brooklyn bars where the “cheat-a-pint” is the norm. It’s only a “scam” when it’s not an actual pint and is listed as a pint. Otherwise, it’s “a beer”, and only the geekiest among us would point out that it’s not an actual “pint”. Experience tells me that it’s not worth the conversation.
With all due respect, Mike, I still think it quite ridiculous of you not to point out a fact. What is this website about anyway? If you write about it, write about it. The best way for all of us is always full disclosure from journalists. Its when journalists become the stooges of business or government that capitalism and democracy gets screwed.
As to your comment Streetz, let the Brits do as they do. In the USA, a 16 oz pint glass is the tradition and the convention. Moreover, both brewers and distributors charge a lot more for beer here than their Euro counterparts.
Jeff Alworth of Beervana started the Honest Pint Project in Portland back in 2007 http://honestpintproject.org/. It’s a positive way to keep businesses honest.
Also, Ray is absolutely correct. The establishment is only at fault if they are labeling their beer glasses as pints on the menu, but serving 14 oz. cheaters. Full trasparency is ideal, but restaurants have been inconsistently selling orange juice for hundreds of years.
Pony bar does this bush league move