The Submarine Captain wrote:

> JaKe a écrit :
>
>> How can fine beer establishments get away with calling their pints,
>> 'pints' when they're really 12oz? Isn't there a law against this :-)
>>
> Depends if the (US, 16oz) pint is a legal measure to sell beer in your
> area / state.

In much of the USA, there is no such thing as "legal" measure, and
that is true of the part of the USA in which "JaKe" lives (Washington
state).

A pub can and will call a 14-ounce mixing glass a pint. I've even
been to pubs where they mix the use of 14-ounce and 16-ounce "pints."
Such a pub will often pour a big foamy head, too, effectively
delivering a 12-ounce "pint" to an unwitting or indifferent customer.
Such customers are common in the USA, a land where truly knowledgeable
beer drinkers are still only a tiny minority among imbibers.

The best recourse is to avoid such establishments. It isn't a bad idea
to tell the management why you won't come back; some of them might care,
and some of them will look at you like you just grew a third eye.

> If it is, then this would be a blatant short measure, and you should
> contact your local trading standards office (or whatever that's called
> in the US) .

Doesn't exist. There are people who show up to enforce alcohol
regulations, of course: clean bar, toilets that aren't overflowing,
no smoking going on (illegal in several American states now, including
Washington), no drunks being served, and most important of all, no
underage minors being served. But a bar can use a "cheater" 14-ounce
pint, an American 16-ounce pint, a German half-liter glass, or a
British "Nonick" 20-ounce pint, and the bar can call any of those a
pint if it so chooses. Some bars serve both American and British pints
and let the consumer know the difference; often, such bars eschew the
"cheater" pints as well. Such bars are deserving of all the trade they
can handle. The clowns serving beer in frosted cheater pints can go to
hell and stay there.
--
dgs