Post by virgindick on Jun 9, 2008 10:15:11 GMT -5
Pint-Size Problem
Beer lovers nurse a grudge as some bars switch to smaller glasses
By NANCY KEATES
June 7, 2008; Page W3
Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline may be a cause for outrage. But it
pales next to the righteous fury provoked by five-dollar-a-pint beer.
Beer prices at bars and restaurants have risen over the past few
months, as prices of hops and barley have skyrocketed and retail
business has slowed alongside the economy.
Some restaurants have replaced 16-ounce pint glasses with 14
ouncers -- a type of glassware one bartender called a "falsie."
And customers are complaining that bartenders are increasingly
putting less than 16 ounces of beer in a pint glass, filling up the
extra space with foam.
Two of the world's biggest glassware makers, Libbey and Cardinal International, say orders of smaller beer glasses have risen over the past year. Restaurateurs "want more of a perceived value," says Mike Schuster, Libbey's marketing manager for glassware in the U.S. Glasses with a thicker bottom or a thicker shaft help create the perception. "You can increase the thickness of the bottom part but still retain the overall profile," he says.
Dedicated beer drinkers are fighting back, with extra vigilance
about exactly how much beer they get for their buck. They are
protesting "cheater pints" and "profit pours" by outing alleged
offenders on Web discussion boards and plugging bars that maintain 16-ounce pints, in hopes peer pressure will prevail. And they are spreading the word about how to spot the smaller glass (the bottom is thicker).
Jason Alstrom, who founded the magazine BeerAdvocate last year, calls it the "Less for More" phenomenon. "It's happening
everywhere," he says. He is urging readers and users of his Web
site, www.beeradvocate.com, to "raise a fist and refuse to pay" when served a skimpy pint.
Reporter Nancy Keates discusses the shrinking pint
phenomenon.Evidence of short-pouring is hard to nail down, but there are signs the practice is common. Romano's Macaroni Grill, a
national chain, uses the thick-bottomed 14 ouncers in at least some of its locations; a Romano's bartender in Portland, Ore.,
volunteered the nickname "falsies." (A corporate spokesman for
Romano's declined to comment.)
A bartender at a Florida location of the GameWorks chain said it
serves beer in the thick-bottomed 14-ounce glasses, adding, "We are trained to say it's a pint." Pat Hart, the GameWorks chain's vice president of operations, says the policy is to serve 16-ounce pints. At that location, Mr. Hart says, "they probably just ordered the
wrong glasses."
Jeff Alworth, a Portland, Ore., beer blogger, university researcher
and a founder of the Honest Pint Project, has been testing suspected short-pouring bars, in some cases measuring his beer-glass capacity by the men's room sink. His group collected more than 400 names in two weeks for an online petition urging state regulators to enforce a 16-ounce rule. And at one point, he was posting the names of bars that didn't measure up on his Web site. But in response to complaints, he now has taken to listing the names of establishments serving full pints in bigger glasses. "I'm not a firebrand," says Mr. Alworth. "I am devoted to Oregon beer, and it seemed like using glasses where you don't get a 16-ounce pour was not so cool."
Photos: Andrew Scrivani for The Wall Street Journal
Some restaurants make no apology for reducing their beer-glass size. The Damon's Grill restaurant chain switched to 14 ouncers from 16-ounce glasses two years ago and didn't lower prices. "Someone who comes in and wants a beer doesn't want a huge glass," says Tanny Feerer, vice president for purchasing at Damon's International. "Fourteen ounces is enough." Since then, the chain has held draft beer prices steady.
The Hooters chain serves draft beer in 14-ounce glasses at
franchised locations in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, and 16-ounce glasses in other states. "We can get 20 more beers out of a keg that way," says Archie Gleason, director of marketing for the franchisee, RMD Corp.
Observant wine drinkers may also notice a change in glass size, says Lee Spielman, a regional sales manager at Cardinal. After several years of pouring red wine into oversize "bowls," restaurants and bars now are starting to get complaints from customers about the size of the pour. Many places are switching to much smaller "universal" glasses, designed to hold either red or white wine, he says.
The shape of the glass apparently can distort bar patrons'
perception of how much beer they have been served. The British
Medical Journal published a 2005 study by Brian Wansink, a Cornell University professor, and Koert van Ittersum, an assistant professor of marketing at Georgia Institute of Technology, concluding that restaurants and bars might increase profitability and reduce waste by switching to taller, narrower glasses and cups -- without sacrificing customer satisfaction. If people think they are getting more, they will be willing to pay more but won't necessarily drink more, the independent study concluded.
Weather conditions and growing demand for small craft brews are
causing a major shortage of hops and driving up prices. Paul Lin
talks to Vermont brewers about what it means for the industry.
Mr. Alworth, the activist, demonstrated his methods on a recent
Sunday afternoon at Henry's Tavern in Portland. He ordered a pint of a lighter-style lager -- which he chose because it doesn't foam a lot -- and poured it into a plastic measuring cup. He let it settle, then looked closely: The liquid reached a little above the 13-ounce mark. Next he measured the contents of a smaller glass of dark beer: It came out even less.
With his Boston Red Sox cap pulled down low on his forehead, he
tucked the empty light-beer glass under his corduroy jacket and went to the men's room, where he filled the glass to the brim with water -- 16 ounces, to be precise. The same procedure with the empty dark-beer glass revealed it held 14 ounces.
Managers of several bars disputed Mr. Alworth's suggestion that they are skimping on their pint pours. Craig McKellar, a manager at Henry's Tavern, says first of all, the bar uses only 16-ounce
glasses, though from time to time a smaller glass could get mixed
in, perhaps brought in from outside by a customer. "That would be very rare," he adds. He says he and other bartenders have a precise idea of how big the foam head on a beer should be. "The way brew masters want you to pour the beer is one-and-½ inches of foam," Mr. McKellar says. "If you pour it without foam, beer connoisseurs would say it was flat."
Maybe bars should use larger glasses, Mr. Alworth counters. That
way, there would be room for the full pint plus a head of foam.
After learning about his Honest Pint movement, Portland's Raccoon Lodge recently started serving pints in 20-ounce glasses, up from 16 ounces. The 16-ounce glasses held only about 14.5 ounces, says restaurant manager Lisa Crombie; the 20-ounce glasses hold about 18 ounces. "We just thought it was fair," Ms. Crombie says. "People were paying for a pint, so they should get a pint."
Beer activists are talking about developing stickers to adhere to
the windows of bars and restaurants where pints live up to the name. Oregon legislator Brian Clem is taking up the issue for the state's 2009 budget, hoping to fund monitoring of beer portions by the state's agriculture department.
In the U.K., the Imperial Pint (equivalent to 19.2 U.S. ounces) has
been a government-regulated standard for several centuries. The
standard requires use of official pint glasses -- with the
word "Pint" and the European "CE" marking -- etched onto each glass. The glasses actually hold more than an Imperial Pint, so there's room for the foam.
But the regulations haven't quieted debate. In England, a group
called Campaign for Real Ale has been alleging for years that bars
pinch pence by pouring short. In March, the British government
energized the movement by slapping a new tax on alcohol. About
23,000 people have signed a petition in favor of government
regulation of the size of the foam head on a pint of beer.
Pubs that don't scrimp are undercut by pubs that do, says Nick Laver-Vincent, who owns The Royal Oak in Big Bury, England, and who signed the petition. "It is cutthroat," he says.
Beer drinkers feeling shortchanged can take immediate action: They can ask for a "top-off" after the foam on the profit pour settles. That's what George Collentine did when he was served a beer with almost two inches of foam at an Italian restaurant this month. "I just waited," says the 38-year-old chemical-company manager from Danbury, Conn. The bartender gave it to him.
Write to Nancy Keates at nancy.keates@wsj.com
Beer lovers nurse a grudge as some bars switch to smaller glasses
By NANCY KEATES
June 7, 2008; Page W3
Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline may be a cause for outrage. But it
pales next to the righteous fury provoked by five-dollar-a-pint beer.
Beer prices at bars and restaurants have risen over the past few
months, as prices of hops and barley have skyrocketed and retail
business has slowed alongside the economy.
Some restaurants have replaced 16-ounce pint glasses with 14
ouncers -- a type of glassware one bartender called a "falsie."
And customers are complaining that bartenders are increasingly
putting less than 16 ounces of beer in a pint glass, filling up the
extra space with foam.
Two of the world's biggest glassware makers, Libbey and Cardinal International, say orders of smaller beer glasses have risen over the past year. Restaurateurs "want more of a perceived value," says Mike Schuster, Libbey's marketing manager for glassware in the U.S. Glasses with a thicker bottom or a thicker shaft help create the perception. "You can increase the thickness of the bottom part but still retain the overall profile," he says.
Dedicated beer drinkers are fighting back, with extra vigilance
about exactly how much beer they get for their buck. They are
protesting "cheater pints" and "profit pours" by outing alleged
offenders on Web discussion boards and plugging bars that maintain 16-ounce pints, in hopes peer pressure will prevail. And they are spreading the word about how to spot the smaller glass (the bottom is thicker).
Jason Alstrom, who founded the magazine BeerAdvocate last year, calls it the "Less for More" phenomenon. "It's happening
everywhere," he says. He is urging readers and users of his Web
site, www.beeradvocate.com, to "raise a fist and refuse to pay" when served a skimpy pint.
Reporter Nancy Keates discusses the shrinking pint
phenomenon.Evidence of short-pouring is hard to nail down, but there are signs the practice is common. Romano's Macaroni Grill, a
national chain, uses the thick-bottomed 14 ouncers in at least some of its locations; a Romano's bartender in Portland, Ore.,
volunteered the nickname "falsies." (A corporate spokesman for
Romano's declined to comment.)
A bartender at a Florida location of the GameWorks chain said it
serves beer in the thick-bottomed 14-ounce glasses, adding, "We are trained to say it's a pint." Pat Hart, the GameWorks chain's vice president of operations, says the policy is to serve 16-ounce pints. At that location, Mr. Hart says, "they probably just ordered the
wrong glasses."
Jeff Alworth, a Portland, Ore., beer blogger, university researcher
and a founder of the Honest Pint Project, has been testing suspected short-pouring bars, in some cases measuring his beer-glass capacity by the men's room sink. His group collected more than 400 names in two weeks for an online petition urging state regulators to enforce a 16-ounce rule. And at one point, he was posting the names of bars that didn't measure up on his Web site. But in response to complaints, he now has taken to listing the names of establishments serving full pints in bigger glasses. "I'm not a firebrand," says Mr. Alworth. "I am devoted to Oregon beer, and it seemed like using glasses where you don't get a 16-ounce pour was not so cool."
Photos: Andrew Scrivani for The Wall Street Journal
Some restaurants make no apology for reducing their beer-glass size. The Damon's Grill restaurant chain switched to 14 ouncers from 16-ounce glasses two years ago and didn't lower prices. "Someone who comes in and wants a beer doesn't want a huge glass," says Tanny Feerer, vice president for purchasing at Damon's International. "Fourteen ounces is enough." Since then, the chain has held draft beer prices steady.
The Hooters chain serves draft beer in 14-ounce glasses at
franchised locations in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, and 16-ounce glasses in other states. "We can get 20 more beers out of a keg that way," says Archie Gleason, director of marketing for the franchisee, RMD Corp.
Observant wine drinkers may also notice a change in glass size, says Lee Spielman, a regional sales manager at Cardinal. After several years of pouring red wine into oversize "bowls," restaurants and bars now are starting to get complaints from customers about the size of the pour. Many places are switching to much smaller "universal" glasses, designed to hold either red or white wine, he says.
The shape of the glass apparently can distort bar patrons'
perception of how much beer they have been served. The British
Medical Journal published a 2005 study by Brian Wansink, a Cornell University professor, and Koert van Ittersum, an assistant professor of marketing at Georgia Institute of Technology, concluding that restaurants and bars might increase profitability and reduce waste by switching to taller, narrower glasses and cups -- without sacrificing customer satisfaction. If people think they are getting more, they will be willing to pay more but won't necessarily drink more, the independent study concluded.
Weather conditions and growing demand for small craft brews are
causing a major shortage of hops and driving up prices. Paul Lin
talks to Vermont brewers about what it means for the industry.
Mr. Alworth, the activist, demonstrated his methods on a recent
Sunday afternoon at Henry's Tavern in Portland. He ordered a pint of a lighter-style lager -- which he chose because it doesn't foam a lot -- and poured it into a plastic measuring cup. He let it settle, then looked closely: The liquid reached a little above the 13-ounce mark. Next he measured the contents of a smaller glass of dark beer: It came out even less.
With his Boston Red Sox cap pulled down low on his forehead, he
tucked the empty light-beer glass under his corduroy jacket and went to the men's room, where he filled the glass to the brim with water -- 16 ounces, to be precise. The same procedure with the empty dark-beer glass revealed it held 14 ounces.
Managers of several bars disputed Mr. Alworth's suggestion that they are skimping on their pint pours. Craig McKellar, a manager at Henry's Tavern, says first of all, the bar uses only 16-ounce
glasses, though from time to time a smaller glass could get mixed
in, perhaps brought in from outside by a customer. "That would be very rare," he adds. He says he and other bartenders have a precise idea of how big the foam head on a beer should be. "The way brew masters want you to pour the beer is one-and-½ inches of foam," Mr. McKellar says. "If you pour it without foam, beer connoisseurs would say it was flat."
Maybe bars should use larger glasses, Mr. Alworth counters. That
way, there would be room for the full pint plus a head of foam.
After learning about his Honest Pint movement, Portland's Raccoon Lodge recently started serving pints in 20-ounce glasses, up from 16 ounces. The 16-ounce glasses held only about 14.5 ounces, says restaurant manager Lisa Crombie; the 20-ounce glasses hold about 18 ounces. "We just thought it was fair," Ms. Crombie says. "People were paying for a pint, so they should get a pint."
Beer activists are talking about developing stickers to adhere to
the windows of bars and restaurants where pints live up to the name. Oregon legislator Brian Clem is taking up the issue for the state's 2009 budget, hoping to fund monitoring of beer portions by the state's agriculture department.
In the U.K., the Imperial Pint (equivalent to 19.2 U.S. ounces) has
been a government-regulated standard for several centuries. The
standard requires use of official pint glasses -- with the
word "Pint" and the European "CE" marking -- etched onto each glass. The glasses actually hold more than an Imperial Pint, so there's room for the foam.
But the regulations haven't quieted debate. In England, a group
called Campaign for Real Ale has been alleging for years that bars
pinch pence by pouring short. In March, the British government
energized the movement by slapping a new tax on alcohol. About
23,000 people have signed a petition in favor of government
regulation of the size of the foam head on a pint of beer.
Pubs that don't scrimp are undercut by pubs that do, says Nick Laver-Vincent, who owns The Royal Oak in Big Bury, England, and who signed the petition. "It is cutthroat," he says.
Beer drinkers feeling shortchanged can take immediate action: They can ask for a "top-off" after the foam on the profit pour settles. That's what George Collentine did when he was served a beer with almost two inches of foam at an Italian restaurant this month. "I just waited," says the 38-year-old chemical-company manager from Danbury, Conn. The bartender gave it to him.
Write to Nancy Keates at nancy.keates@wsj.com