Ammelounx offers three tips for people starting to collect beer steins: First, buy what you like. “Don’t buy it as an investment, buy it to enjoy it,” he says. Secondly, buy what you can afford, but look for quality. Like most collectables, age is only part of what determines price. Other factors, such as rarity, condition and subject matter play a big role. Lastly, “Know who you are buying from and understand what your return privileges are after the sale,” Ammelounx advises. In some cases with Internet sales even a well-intentioned seller might not know how to properly describe a stein or how to properly grade its condition.
Pint Sized Controversy
Evidence of earliest known glass production dates back to 3500 B.C. in Mesopotamia. For centuries the difficulty in producing glass and the fragility of product meant that only the wealthy and powerful had glassware. Things are different today, but glassware can still be a story of the haves and the have-nots.
While almost everyone will agree a cold beer in a glass on a hot day is a good thing, glassware is not without its own controversy. If you thought a pint was a pint, you would be wrong.
Liquid measurement tables clearly state a pint is 16 ounces. That should be the start and end of any discussion on the size of a pint. But that just is not the case.
Order a pint in most American bars and you will receive a 14-ounce “shaker” glass. Try all day and you could never get 16 ounces of liquid into a 14-ounce Shaker. In fact, leave room for the head on a beer in a 14-ounce Shaker and you end up with something around 13 ounces of brew or less.
Travel to England and a pint suddenly becomes 20 Imperial ounces (19.215 U.S. ounces). For many years, pubs were required by law to use glasses that were certified to hold a full pint. Each glass was stamped with a crown and a certification number. The European Union now requires that the words “PINT” and “CE” are marked on the glass. Certifying the true size of a pour is serious business in European countries. It is easy to see the full pour lines on one-third, half and liter glassware. There is always extra room provided for the fluffy head.
Few Americans appear to be disturbed about being cheated out of about 20 percent of the beer they pay for, which is odd since we would certainly not stand for the same treatment if the liquid involved was gasoline, olive oil, milk or even water.
In December 2007, Jeff Alworth in Portland, OR, established the Honest Pint Project. It was an attempt to start a beer consumer movement to push bars and restaurants selling pints of beer to actually serve pints measuring 16 ounces of liquid. While it is a noble cause, few taverns have picked up on the effort and started offering consumers an honest pint.
