Pint glass

A pint glass is a form of drinkware made to hold either a British imperial pint of 20 imperial fluid ounces (568 ml) or an American pint of 16 US fluid ounces (473 ml). Other definitions also exist, see below. These glasses are typically used to serve beer, and also often for cider.
The common shapes of pint glass are:
Pint glasses became popular in the United Kingdom in the early/mid-20th century, replacing tankards (pewter, ceramic and glass). This change is notably lamented by George Orwell in his 1946 essay "The Moon Under Water".
Until the 1990s regulars of some UK pubs would keep their own pewter tankard, often engraved with their name or nickname, behind the bar. This practice has largely disappeared with the requirement to sell beer in certified vessels.
Older styles include:
In the United Kingdom, draught beer must be sold in Imperial measure (see Pint § Effects of metrication). English, Scottish and Northern Irish law all require certain steps be taken to ensure that a pint of beer is indeed a pint. Though this can be achieved using "metered dispense" (calibrated pumps), the more common solution is to use certified one-pint glasses. Until 2007 these had a crown stamp indicating that the certification had been done by an agency of the Crown. The number etched upon the glasses stands for the manufacturing company or site.
Under the EU Measuring Instruments Directive (Directive 2004/22/EC), the certification of measuring instruments and devices used in trade (including beer mugs, weighbridges, petrol pumps and the like) can be done by third parties anywhere within the EU with governments taking "only the legislative and enforcement (market surveillance) functions" and "ensuring that the system of third party assessment ... has sufficient technical competence and independence" (or, in simple language, calibration services were privatised). Glasses that have been certified by authorised firms anywhere within the EU have the letters CE etched on with the certifying agency's identification number. Conservatives campaigning to have dual markings of crown and CE were informed by EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen that "a Crown stamp look-alike could naturally be affixed to the glass, as long as it is done in such a way that it is not confused with the CE marking". Following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU the CE mark is being replaced by the UKCA marking for goods placed on the market in Great Britain, and in September 2021, it was announced that the Crown would return to pint glasses in the UK.
Selling beer in unmeasured glasses without using some other form of calibrated measure is illegal. Half-pint, one-third pint and two-thirds pint (schooners) glasses are also available and are subject to the same laws. Two-thirds of a pint is not equal to the Canadian, US or Australian schooners, which are respectively of different measures. Instead, the term "schooner" is sometimes informally used within the UK to describe two-thirds of a pint (379 ml).
Although the glass must be accurately-calibrated, industry guidelines only require a pint to be at least 95% liquid, allowing 5% of the pint to consist of the foamy "head". The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has described this practice as selling a short measure, and says that it costs drinkers £1 million a day in beer they have paid for but not received. The British Beer and Pub Association has issued guidelines for bar staff to give a "top up" to any drinker who is unsatisfied with the measure they receive.
CAMRA recommends the use of "lined" or "oversized" glasses in pubs. These have a line near the top (usually labelled "PINT TO LINE") to which the beer should be poured, with the head forming above it. In the past a number of breweries supplied these glasses to their pubs; this is now rarely the case, and lined glasses are found mostly at enthusiasts' events such as beer festivals, serious cask ale pubs, and breweries' own bars.
Beer in Australia is formally measured in metric units, but draught beer is commonly ordered and sold in glasses approximating imperial measures, including a 570 ml pint. In the state of South Australia, "pint" refers to a 425 ml (3⁄4 pint) glass, known as a schooner in the rest of Australia. As in the UK, certified glassware must be used; the capacity of the beer glass is defined by either the brim or, where present, the fill line. There are no legally prescribed sizes for beer volumes, but the stated capacities, which are a legal requirement, must be formally tested by the hoteliers and breweries.
In Canada, Federal law mandates a standard imperial pint. However, this law is rarely enforced in some provinces, such as British Columbia, and establishments sometimes sell US pints or other measures as "pints."
The Republic of Ireland uses the imperial 20 fl oz pint measure (≈568 ml), where legal metrology marks are used to show that a glass has passed inspection by the National Standards Authority of Ireland, a state-run body which enforces a number of standard rulings. Starting in 2006, the NSAI "pint" mark, a circle featuring two wavy lines, between which "PINT" is written, with a year mark (last two digits), and a three digit batch code either side; has begun to be phased out with a European standard "PINT"/CE logo stamp . Smaller Pint glasses have been used in pubs and nightclubs though.
In Israel, although officially defined as 568ml, pubs use the term arbitrarily and the "pints" served constitute a wide range of volumes (360ml–440ml). In the past, the custom was to serve beer in 330ml or 500ml in the original beer manufacturer's glass. The tax on alcohol was doubled in July 2012 to ₪4.2 per litre. In order to avoid raising prices at pubs, and as a result, the loss of customers, a new standard beer measurement appeared; the "pint". Customers don't seem to know how much liquid should be in a pint, which varies from place to place. Some venues did not do this, and still serve beer in 500 ml glasses.
In the United States, a pint is 16 US fluid ounces (473 ml). However, the typical conical "pint" glass holds 16 US fl oz only when filled to its rim with liquid. With a half-inch of foam, the actual liquid fill is roughly 14 US fl oz (410 ml), missing one eighth of its volume. In 2008, some restaurants replaced 16-ounce pint glasses with 14-ounce ones, to which customers objected. In response to this, 2014 legislation in the state of Michigan (known for its craft brewing culture) requires bars to serve 16-ounce pints.
It is increasingly common to find pint glasses which contain markings on the base; very often these glasses are branded to one particular beer. The markings themselves are formed from small pits, which aid in nucleation, allowing the gas within it to be released more easily, thus preserving the head. Without the aid of these pits a regular pint glass will keep a head for only 3 or 4 minutes before appearing "flat". The markings come in a variety of styles ranging from a simple circular or square hatched pattern to more complicated branding messages.
Pint glass collecting is a way for individuals to commemorate their visits to popular tourist destinations, most notably to microbreweries or sports arenas. These destinations often sell pint glasses adorned with their logos, which are either screen-printed or engraved on the side of the glass. Brewery enthusiasts may travel thousands of miles to see where their favorite beer is made or to sample new local and fresh beers, and collectors often display their collections (which sometimes total in the hundreds) in display cases or on shelves.
Pint glasses are also often sold as collector or novelty items, sometimes individually or boxed with a pint bottle of beer.
Beer festivals frequently have commemorative pint glasses made specially for the event.
As with other glass objects such as glass bottles, pint glasses can be used as a weapon, either smashing an intact glass in a victim's face or smashing the glass and then slashing with the shards. Such attacks, called "glassing", are a significant problem in the United Kingdom, with over 5,000 injuries per year in 2002. This has led to less-dangerous alternatives being used, either plastic glasses and bottles at large events or violence-prone venues, or treated glass, primarily tempered glass, which has been used in Australia.