As if the crappy economy, record gas prices, and rising beer prices weren’t enough to put a dark cloud over your summer, now it seems that some establishments are using pint glasses that are less than a pint. Some chain restaurants have started using pint glasses with extra-thick bottoms that only hold 14 ounces instead of 16, while still charging the same. They call these deceptive vessels “falsies.”

Establishments known to use the smaller glasses are Ramano’s Macaroni Grill (some locations), Damon’s Grill, and Hooters.

Some claim that the reason for shorting customers is simple economics:

“We can get 20 more beers out of a keg that way,” says Archie Gleason, director of marketing for the [Hooters] franchisee, RMD Corp.

That seems almost reasonable. 20 beers at 5 bucks a pop is an extra $100 per keg. But wait, let’s run those numbers again. A keg is 15.5 gallons which is 1984 ounces. Assuming you can get every drop of beer out of a keg (you can’t) and it is filled to exactly 1984 ounces (it’s probably not), you can get 124 16oz pints or 141.7 14oz “pints” out of a keg. That’s a difference of 17.7 beers, not 20. But anyone who has used a keg, or even seen a bartender pour beer, knows that there is a lot of waste due to over-pouring or too much air in the lines. You would be lucky to get an extra 10 14oz pours per keg which only equals about 50 bucks, or the average price of dinner for 2.

Others claim that you don’t really want a full pint:

“Someone who comes in and wants a beer doesn’t want a huge glass,” says Tanny Feerer, vice president for purchasing at Damon’s International. “Fourteen ounces is enough.”

Huh? “Doesn’t want a huge glass?” I don’t know anyone who wants to pay 5 to 8 hard-earned dollars for a smaller beer. If you want to offer different sizes, fine but don’t insult my intelligence by saying beer drinkers want less beer for the same inflated price when it’s pretty obvious that simple greed is the motivation.

This is why I seldom get buy beer at restaurants. Between the short pours, inflated prices, deceptive glasses, and lousy selection, it’s just not worth it.

Incidentally, in England an imperial pint is 19.2 oz so we’re already getting screwed in the States. There is also a law that a pint cannot be any less than 19.2 oz, though it isn’t really enforced.

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Americans are expected to spend $381 million for 21 million cases of beer in major supermarkets in the 2 weeks surrounding Memorial Day according to Nielson Research. It is the second biggest beer-buying holiday with July 4th being number one.

While this is an interesting statistic, I assume that “major supermarkets” does not include liquor/beer stores which are more likely to carry the good stuff. Also, in general only domestic, macro brewery beer is sold in “cases.” Indeed, “during the summer as a whole, premium beer (which includes Bud, Bud Light, Miller, Miller Genuine Draft, Coors and Coors Light) accounts for half of all sales.” I find it ironic that these beers are labeled as “premium” when craft beers are certainly a more premium product.

The good news behind the statistics is that beer sales are on the rise despite rising beer prices and a crappy economy. Actually, the economy may be part of the reason for increasing sales because Americans are buying more wine and spirits as well. I guess we figure it’s best to stay pickled until after the November elections.

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