Seeking An Honest Pint (Because Size Matters)
One of the first times I purchased a pint of beer in Canada, I almost got into a fight with the bartender. You see, Ive spent enough time in pubs to know what a pint looks like and I was definitely not served one. It looked like some sort of schooner. I mean there was not even half a litre, let alone 568 ml (20 Imperial oz), the legal definition of a pint according to Canadian Federal law.
Turns out it was it was a US pint, which is almost 20% smaller than an Imperial pint. A US pint is only 473 ml or 16 US fluid oz. Or 16.65 Imperial oz. What? Yes, to make it even more confusing, a US ounce is actually larger than an Imperial ounce. Talk about a mind-fuck.
Remember that time you did tequila shots in America and they seemed pretty huge? Well, it wasnt just your imagination. US shots are bigger. (Sure not that much bigger but still, having multiple measurement systems is unnecessarily ridiculously confusing).
They just need to be different in America, eh. At least beer is cheaper over there, and they are usually consistent about what a pint is (although apparently some bars try to pass off 14 US oz glasses (415 ml) as US pints.
Meanwhile in Canada, figuring out how much beer youre getting is almost like performing discrete calculus. Not only do many liquor establishments purposely pass off US pints or half-litre mugs as Canadian pints, most consumers seem to be oblivious to this crime. To add insult to injury, you sometimes get a sleeve when you order a pint. A sleeve of course, is not even a standard unit of measure in this or any alternate reality but rather an arbitrary term referring to a glass between 12 oz and 16 oz.
In Europe you simply find pints 1/2 pints in UK Ireland or 250 mls (also known as 25 cl) or 500 mls (50 cl) in Continental Europe (but some countries, like Belgium will have anywhere from 125 mls to 1L). So why is it so confusing over here?
There are a number of possible reasons for this:
1. Pints used to be illegal in British Columbia. Right until 2010, the largest single-serving of beer you could order was 500 ml. Mind you, youre now allowed to order up to 680 mls servings of beer, so thats no longer a valid excuse. (But no Oktoberfest parties in BC I guess!)
2. Glass manufacturers in Canada suck at math. Perhaps they just eye-ball the measurements.
3. Lack of penalties for false advertising. As previously stated in the post, Canadian Federal law clearly describes a Canadian pint as 568 ml or 20 Imperial ounces. If pubs were fined for short-changing customers, they would promptly stop doing it.
4. Confusion, general apathy and ignorance. Having to remember metric, Imperial and US conversions ends up being too much work for most people. Good for business, bad for the consumer. Which leads me to my next point.
5. Canadians dont drink as much beer as Europeans, so maybe they just arent as serious about it. Imagine if you went to a gas station in Canada and you could only order undefined quantities of liquid or lets say sleeves of gas? People would lose their shit! Clearly, people here just dont care enough or businesses wouldnt be able to do what they are doing.
6. And maybe Canadians (or at least Vancouverites) are just price insensitive. It just may be that Canadians are wealthy enough or desensitized to the high cost of living, that they dont notice how much they pay.
In Europe, the glasses are marked so you know exactly how much you are getting. Ultimately, its as simple as that. Knowledge allows consumers to make more educated decisions. Besides, if this can work in Belgium with their multitude of elaborately crafted glassware, it can work anywhere!
Do you live in British Columbia?
Nows your chance to help fix BCs Liquor Laws.
Originally published at web-beta.archive.org.
