head on a pint of beer

[Jag_NE]

when i buy 12 eggs, i expect 12 eggs. when i buy a kilo of beef, i expect a kilo of beef. etc etc

why is it when you buy a pint of beer its become normal to give you less than a pint usually by way of a stupidly large head or just short filling the glass?

archive in the first world problems folder please mods!

[Leithen]

If you like flat watery beer, yes, you should get a liquid pint.

If you like your beer with a head, that head is part of the pint volume.

Simple really.

[Jag_NE]

Leithen said:

If you like flat watery beer, yes, you should get a liquid pint.

If you like your beer with a head, that head is part of the pint volume.

Simple really.

but you arent getting an actual "pint" when a beer has a large head.

simples

[21TonyK]

This is why glasses are marked. If it worries you that much tell the person pouring your pint.

[Leithen]

Jag_NE said:

but you arent getting an actual "pint" when a beer has a large head.

simples

"pint" of what?

It depends on what your are expecting to buy. With head, or without (Oooerrr).

Lets go time travelling - way back when Frodo & Sam staggered into the Barley Bree (or whatever it was called) you asked for and got a vessel full of something - either a jug or likely a tankard.

At some point some jobsworth decided to standardise all tankards. Fine, but what was being sold didn't change.

I expect a pint to have a head as part of that pint volume. Would have done so 2000 years ago, do so today. If the head is too much, I ask for a top up. If I don't receive it, I don't return.

[Shaw Tarse]

21TonyK said:

This is why glasses are marked. If it worries you that much tell the person pouring your pint.

This ^^ Guessing OP is from down South?

[motco]

Some glasses are a pint to the brim, but in latter years they have been marked as a pint to a line below the brim and the head is a bonus.

[Jag_NE]

never seen a marked glass with a line as such. they have a "pint" stamp but that means 568ml liquid to the brim.

[Leithen]

motco said:

Some glasses are a pint to the brim, but in latter years they have been marked as a pint to a line below the brim and the head is a bonus.

Work of the devil. Nothing looks worse than a pint glass with a head that isn't full to the brim because the liquid has been filled to the line, but the head doesn't make up the difference. Ridiculous. Bah Humbug.

[SMB]

There are two types of glass
Brim glasses are a pint to the brim, over size glasses include a printed line which marks a pint. Most ( but not all) specialist beer glasses marked with a brand are brim glasses. To check look for the line denoting the pint mark.

There is a tendency for bars to claim that 1 pint is the the pint word on the side of the brim glass, this is incorrect. As such most pints sold are actually short.

A pint can include a head, but it should be no more than 5% of the volume. If anyone asks for the liquid to be topped up if a head is too large, then the bar should do that.

If you are not happy with the contents, ask for it to be topped up.

[Jag_NE]

SMB said:

There are two types of glass
Brim glasses are a pint to the brim, over size glasses include a printed line which marks a pint. Most ( but not all) specialist beer glasses marked with a brand are brim glasses. To check look for the line denoting the pint mark.

There is a tendency for bars to claim that 1 pint is the the pint word on the side of the brim glass, this is incorrect. As such most pints sold are actually short.

A pint can include a head, but it should be no more than 5% of the volume. If anyone asks for the liquid to be topped up if a head is too large, then the bar should do that.

If you are not happy with the contents, ask for it to be topped up.

good post. most pints are short in my experience and i dont think ive seen a glass with a pint line outside of a WMC. basically for every 8 or so pints you buy you are buying the landlord one back.

[InductionRoar]

Leithen said:

If you like flat watery beer, yes, you should get a liquid pint.

If you like your beer with a head, that head is part of the pint volume.

Simple really.

Interesting that you equate no head with watery beer. I find that often this is not the case at all.

[Leithen]

InductionRoar said:

Interesting that you equate no head with watery beer. I find that often this is not the case at all.

Bitter experience.

Just used to things less hoppy and more foamy Oop North.

[Leithen]

Jag_NE said:

basically for every 8 or so pints you buy you are buying the landlord one back.

Pints are priced accordingly. If more liquid was strictly enforced, all that would happen is that prices would rise.

[Gandahar]

Yes but whenever you buy a pint in a pub you are paying over the odds anyway. Just get some from the supermarket and pour it gently, problem solved at half the price.

But I want to socialise I hear you say. Then buy sparkling water and save money. No head there.

Then go down the supermarket and get rat arsed late into the night looking at second hand cars on PH and autotrader when you really shouldnt.

That's a good night out, cheaply, and a good night in, cheaply, hic ....

[Frankthered]

Jag_NE said:

SMB said:

There are two types of glass
Brim glasses are a pint to the brim, over size glasses include a printed line which marks a pint. Most ( but not all) specialist beer glasses marked with a brand are brim glasses. To check look for the line denoting the pint mark.

There is a tendency for bars to claim that 1 pint is the the pint word on the side of the brim glass, this is incorrect. As such most pints sold are actually short.

A pint can include a head, but it should be no more than 5% of the volume. If anyone asks for the liquid to be topped up if a head is too large, then the bar should do that.

If you are not happy with the contents, ask for it to be topped up.

good post. most pints are short in my experience and i dont think ive seen a glass with a pint line outside of a WMC. basically for every 8 or so pints you buy you are buying the landlord one back.

Reading this, I felt the need to have a look at my Upham glass, bought from the Basingstoke Beer Festival. It is marked with a line below the rim to indicate the pint - as somebody posed earlier, maybe branded glasses are usually so marked.

If I were being served pints (in unmarked glasses) where the head constituted 1/8 of the pint (or 12.5%) I would be asking (politely) for it to be topped up.

[Jag_NE]

Leithen said:

Pints are priced accordingly. If more liquid was strictly enforced, all that would happen is that prices would rise.

prefer that tbh.

same as paying for a dozen eggs and getting eleven every time. you should receive what is paid for.

[Jag_NE]

Frankthered said:

Reading this, I felt the need to have a look at my Upham glass, bought from the Basingstoke Beer Festival. It is marked with a line below the rim to indicate the pint - as somebody posed earlier, maybe branded glasses are usually so marked.

If I were being served pints (in unmarked glasses) where the head constituted 1/8 of the pint (or 12.5%) I would be asking (politely) for it to be topped up.

you shouldnt need to ask is my point. many people wont and are just gifting greedy landlords more profit. my mate ran a pub and he said the staff were coached to serve at a certain level that maximised profit (big chain pub).

[Jag_NE]

Frankthered said:

Reading this, I felt the need to have a look at my Upham glass, bought from the Basingstoke Beer Festival. It is marked with a line below the rim to indicate the pint - as somebody posed earlier, maybe branded glasses are usually so marked.

If I were being served pints (in unmarked glasses) where the head constituted 1/8 of the pint (or 12.5%) I would be asking (politely) for it to be topped up.

you shouldnt need to ask is my point. many people wont and are just gifting greedy landlords more profit. my mate ran a pub and he said the staff were coached to serve at a certain level that maximised profit (big chain pub).

[miniman]

I hate a pint without a head. Cider won't hold one terribly well but my friendly local barmistress has done a nice job of this one. The etching in the base of the glass is keeping it suitably frothy at least for the first half and, frankly, if it has time to disappear altogether then you're drinking it wrong.