Full Pint
Oversized glasses
CAMRA policy
Short measure
Ripped Off
Salvation
Full Pint
Oversized glasses
CAMRA policy
Short measure
Ripped Off
Salvation
Full pints are guaranteed at Stockport Beer and Cider Festival by the use of oversized glasses. A pub glass holds 1 pint (20 fluid ounces) TO THE BRIM, so there is no room for the head! In contrast Festival glasses can hold a total of 22 fluid ounces, so it will hold your pint and still have room for a generous head.
Look on the side about 1cm from the top and you will find it marked "1 pint to line". When being served please check this line carefully. If you receive a short measure please will you let the bar person know, if it's over I trust you will return the excess!
The glasses used in most pubs measure a pint to the brim, so where does the head go? In order to satisfy the desire for a head, some of the beer has to be left out, meaning you have been short measured. Trading Standards Officers report that most pints are served with 5 to 10 per cent froth.
The use of lined, over-sized glasses is the policy of all CAMRA beer festivals. This makes sure that, when you ask for a pint, you get the pint of liquid you requested and there's still room for the head.
Fifteen years ago, not far short of half the pubs selling real ale used electric metered dispense and oversize glasses. The number has steadily fallen as they have swapped over to hand-pumps, which give an unambiguous symbol of real ale on the bar. This change is inevitably accompanied by a switch to brim-measure glasses, but never a price cut.
To be fair, most licensees are not deliberately setting out to sell their customers short, and are more than willing to give a top-up if asked. This isn't always practical when the bar is heaving, and many customers take their beer away before the bar staff has had a chance to top it up.
There is also evidence that some pub operators have adopted a deliberate policy of serving short measurers to get 5% more out of every barrel. If we did this at Stockport Beer and Cider Festival you would be overcharged by 10 pence on a £2.00 pint.
The drinking public are being short-changed on a massive scale, with short measure costing us over £5 million per WEEK! Surveys show that 80% of pints sold are short measures, and 1 in 4 are less than 95% of a pint, the lower limit set by the Brewers & Licensed Retailers' Association. When you buy a gallon of petrol that's precisely what you expect. Why should it be different for beer?
To remedy this problem MP Dennis Turner introduced a private members bill to ensure that a pint of beer was exactly that, a pint. It gained widespread all-party support. Unfortunately it was derailed by maverick Tory MP Eric Forth shouting "Object!" at every opportunity. Full pint legislation has been promised by government ministers, but so far without any results. CAMRA will make sure pressure is maintained to ensure that drinkers get fair measures as soon as possible.
The glasses used at this and all CAMRA beer festivals are oversized. This means you are getting the full pint you paid for. A number of pubs also opperate this oversized glasses policy, and not supprisingly they are all real ale establishments! I wonder if there is a correlation?
Next time you go into a pub, take a good look at your glass and see for yourself whether you're getting a square deal, or whether you're paying for something you haven't got. If you think the pint is short - ASK FOR A TOP-UP. This should be given gladly, and with good grace. Compare this to the FULL pint you will receive at this festival without having to ask.
