Backsliding on Honest Pints?

I received an email about the state of affairs in New England on one specific dimension: pint glass transparency. Tom writes:

We have some great breweries in here in CT but I’ll be damned if you can find an honest pint. The bartender handed it to me when I balked at a 12 oz pint with 4 oz of glass taken up with the head on one of their lagers. The bartender actually said to me, “The foam counts!” [Tom mentioned the brewery, but I can’t verify his claims, so I’m leaving it unnamed] Maddening. I know I’m preaching to the choir.

Why would Tom care what I thought? Well, something like 17 years ago, I was offended about this very same thing. At the time, shaker pints were legion, and a lot of them only held 14 ounces. Even the 16-ouncers weren’t big enough to deliver a customer 16 fluid ounces when served with appropriate head heights. The worst part is that not everyone was serving “pints” in shaker pint glassware, so $4 (yep, that’s what pints ran back then) got you anywhere from 12 to 18 ounces. I considered this a minor outrage and started the Honest Pint Project.

 
 
 
 

I have no idea whether my effort, which if nothing else did get a ton of attention, actually affected a single bar manager to change glassware. It was the same moment craft beer was getting a bit more serious about standards, so it may have been coincidental with changes in the industry. But whatever the cause, at least in the Pacific Northwest, most non-dive bars switched their glasses (restaurants are less reliable). Now you get not just a “pint,” but typically a description of all the glassware and the volumes they hold. Transparency achievement unlocked!

I assumed this was true elsewhere, but maybe not. I mainly visit well-regarded breweries when I travel, and they are transparent about their glassware. But perhaps that’s not true in other places. So I put it to you, omniscient hive mind: do you have honest pints where you live? (In this case an honest pint means either a glass containing 16 fluid ounces or more—head doesn’t count—or a lesser amount that is clearly labeled.)

I have no reason to think this is anything more than an anomaly, but let’s find out. Tell your stories.

Jeff Alworth5 Comments