The Bar Towel

On 2003-11-05 12:37, Cass wrote:
When visiting the District, at least for now, I believe there is a certain attraction to having Mill St. beers, for the very reason that they are made there. It contributes to the experience of the District.

Besides, the District's history is in alcohol production, so why wouldn't it make sense to have a locally-produced beer!?

I agree Mill St. is not widely known, but this is why they got an ad agency. They can obviously afford it now, and I suspect their advertising will attempt to bring the cachet of the District to the beers. When you're in the District having a Mill St. it's kind of cool, but having one of their beers someplace else isn't. Too many micros can't even get to this point (affording an agency) so I'm happy for them.

It is cool to have Mill Street beers
in the district because you can look at all the great Victorian architecture while having your beer. What's not cool is not being able to get a full pint. Granted I've only been to Pure Spirits and it seems they serve it in (at most) 16oz servings. If anyone knows of any bar down there that serves a proper 20 oz pint let me know. If you're in the area and you want a full pint of Mill Street head to the Dominion Tavern on Queen St East, last time I was there they had the Tankhouse Pale Ale on tap.

No, AFAICS they all use the same less-than-a-pint glasses.

However, I think I will continue to drink in the Distillery District for the ambience. (Also, I have been quite impressed with the food in at Pure Spirits when I have dined there.)

On that topic, what is the legality of selling "pints" at 16 ounces? If you ask for a pint, are they legally allowed to interpret [american] pint?

I think that verbally asking for a pint is a grey area. They can probably just about justify that they assume that you mean 'I want a standard glass of beer', whatever size a "standard glass" may be in their establishment.

I would imagine that if they actually advertised 'pints of beer' in writing on their menus then they would be on very dubious ground, but I don't think that they do.

I think that customers probably are just about within their rights to take one look at the 'pint' they've ordered and then to walk out in disgust, but I think that such an action would be just a bit on the overly extreme side.

I am more interested in how the US pint came about in the first place. Surely someone at some point would have had to redefine it as smaller. Imagine trying that if you were a publican in the UK. You'd be lynched! You can't just randomly change the amount that a pint contains...

I can't believe that someone offering you 4/5 of what you normally would expect would be acceptable anywhere - maybe everyone in the US forgot how big a standard pint of beer was during prohibition. I am just clutching at straws now, as it is almost beyond my comprehension how this came about. If anyone knows, please enlighten me...

I am awaiting the new US foot (now only 9 inches). Then maybe the Republicans won't feel quite so inadequate that they feel the need to invade everybody.

It's a funny old world at times.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: borderline_alcoholic on 2003-11-05 23:23 ]</font>

It's interesting to see what drives opinion on the site. I think it is remarkable that the guys from Mill Street have committed the capital to a significant marketing program. Considering a brewery of this size probably doesn't break even until 7 or 8 thousand hectolitres, they seem to be on the right track to achieve this number and move beyond.
The distillery district is a great enclave to start from in the heart of the big city and I think any small brewery owner out there would love to have a captive market for what will probably be only a brief period.

On 2003-11-05 16:21, Josh Oakes wrote:
Meanwhile, the rest of us will appreciate that there are more places than just Smokeless Joe's where we can find no Interbrew, no Molson and no Sleeman. There's far more variety in Tankhouse, Sparkling Ale, Denison's and Coffee Porter than in any 16-tap imitation pub in this town.

AMEN