Solving the Euro Puzzle : A Matter of Measures

Asked in the 1977 comedy film “Oh, God” whether he had ever made a mistake, George Burns as the deity, admits he is fallible--he made the pit of the avocado too big.

It’s a line that resonates in Europe these days. As the European Community marches toward greater unity, it draws complaints that it is obliterating a rich treasure of national diversity by regulating the color of condoms and the curvature of cucumbers.

In reality, however, things are never entirely black and white. Take, for example, the question of when an apple is REALLY and apple. Or whether the foam should count as part of the beer. . .

Few countries tend to express more outrage than Britain when it comes to bureaucratic meddling by the EC in the nooks and crannies of national life. What they see as nit-picking from Brussels has inspired a concerted campaign in the British popular press against various aspects of the proposed single European market.

Yet Britain’s publicans and brewers are now up in arms over what they consider the British government’s gratuitous tampering with the pub drinker’s cherished pint--of ale, stout or lager.

From time immemorial seemingly, British drinkers have been served their pints of draft beer in a tall, wide glass with a capacity of 20 fluid ounces, the standard measure of an imperial pint. (American ounces are slightly larger, thus 16 to a pint.)

Like American brew drinkers, pub customers considered the head, or foam, of a beer an integral part of a pint.

But in an abrupt decision--without consulting brewers, pub keepers or even consumer groups--the government’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs decided that every pint served in a pub must contain 20 ounces of liquid--which leaves no room for a head in a standard 20-ounce glass.

The new rule is to be implemented by April, 1994, and has left pub keepers in a quandary: do they invest at great expense in 22- or 24-ounce glasses to hold the required pint, or install metered pumps that pour out exactly 20 ounces. But the latter would do away with the traditional and much-loved hand pumps so characteristic of pouring beer in British public houses.

There is a further Catch 22: the Weights and Measures Law forbids pubs selling more than 20 ounces in a pint of beer: a reaction to charges of unfair competition by some pub keepers’ practice of topping up a customer’s beer to ensure their trade.

“The government must think that bartenders and barmaids are bleeding scientists, measuring exactly 20 ounces, no more no less,” complains Stuart Davies, proprietor of the popular Swag & Tails in London’s Knightsbridge.

“The head on a beer has always been considered part of a pint. This new ruling will cost a lot of money, one way or another, and that will probably be passed on to the customer.”

Mike Ripley, an official with the Brewers’ Society, complained that the section in the law insisting that exactly 20 ounces of liquid be delivered in a pint had never been implemented before.

“If pubs are forced to introduce oversize glass, it will cost the industry millions--and this will be reflected in the price of a pint,” he said. “What about customers with their own 20-ounce pewter tankards?”