A True Pint - The Quest

[nzbrewer]

Have you ever been to a pub in New Zealand and asked for a pint and gotten something like 400ml or 500mls (if lucky)?

Wouldn't it be great to be able to get a true pint where ever you go for a beer.

[666 Brewing]

Thats $7.50 a pint at Dodson Street..$6.50 at The Old Bank, Blenheim. The Old Bank is a pub to watch in the future, well if you're in Blenheim anyway!

[kier]

Where's The Old Bank? My in-laws are mostly based in Blenheim and I go there fairly regularly. I usually walk down the road to Dodson's - it'll be great to have another pub worth visiting.

[Geoff Griggs]

Redwood(town) - amongst the shops in Cleghorn Street, directly opposite the post shop.

In previous incarnations it has been known as Sidewalkers, Jessie's Bar, The Sprig and Fern, to name but a few!

[kier]

Cool - thanks, I must have driven past it twice last weekend not realising what it was. I'll check it out next time.

[Ian]

I'm in Picton actually, but dropped you a line after savouring a 'pint' of your gorgeous Roulette, Graeme, (and previously Gabriel) at the Creek. I'm interested in the Old Bank - where is it? If you could inviegel a pub in Picton to host your beer on a guest tap I'd be 'tap' dancing all around Picton. I've leant on the Irish pub and a couple of others about it and of course their constraints are all the same - in a nutshell, 'bought out.' But the Irish pub is expanding to incorporate the wee shop next door and Alistair felt there might be an opportunity then.
For my bob's worth, I feel it is an undoubted attraction if a pub serves their beer in genuine pints - all other things being equal, ie. decent beer, friendly atmosphere etc. In my experience many pubs I've been into over the years (not in the UK though) adopt the ploy of having odd shaped glasses serving less than the usual 'pint' of other pubs, but charging the same. It just ain't cricket. As for head, the Europeans like the old two finger of head addage, but with a style like Best bitter and similar, just give me a CLEAN glass and beer all the way.
Cheers,
Ian

[Stu McKinlay]

Ah, precisely my point, if all other things were equal then we'd never be able to choose a pub!

The value of a good beer is far greater than any calculation of its liquid volume and cost. The same is true even in a bottle - 500mls of craft beer might be $6 at Regionals and $5.50 at the supermarket. I'll take Regionals because the value of choice (and staff advice if I'm buying something other than beer or whisky) means a lot to me.

There's enough meddling in pubs without legislating which glasses (or sizes) they should use. I'm surprised that Mr McGill, who likes to think of himself as a liberal, should jump on the idea of standardisation.

[Ian]

Standardisation? Definately not. But you can't help feeling good about getting a decent measure. Actually, quite a good way to go is what the Mussel Inn appears to do - their locals have their own beer mugs hanging there, which look to me like a somewhat larger measures. I rather like the idea of a bit of a reward for regulars.

[kier]

Quite a lot going on in this thread.

I'm not in favour of standardisation as such but, I would be in favour of pubs having to display the volume of the glasses they choose to serve beer in. For most pubs it isn't an issue as they use a mix of traditional 7/12/16/20oz glasses - usually in a familiar design. It's when a pub (or more usually a bar) has chosen an 'individualised' glass and you're really not sure what you are paying for.

I don't like oversized pint glasses - mainly because in my mind they're synonymous with the fixed-pour-switch system of electric pump that seems to fill all the high street pubs in the UK - I'd hate to see them here. A measure of beer includes the head in my opinion, (I'm sure that's still the law in the UK - I doubt it's ever been needed in NZ with a beer marker dominated by DB & Lion). The head is an essential part of most beers in my opinion and a drink of beer is all the poorer if it's missing.

[Greig McGill]

I didn't say I was in favour of legislating for it, did I Stu? And I think you mean libertarian. ;)