Yes, it makes sense that the pinte was the full measure. The question is whether a bottle of wine was also intended to hold about a pinte?
And then with Napoleon/metrication, perhaps the measures diverged?
It does seem that many French glasses are simply 284/568cl glasses with a 25/50cl line near the rim.
Yes, in the Alps I'm used to un sérieux, but the term appears to be foreign to the Pyrénées.
I can get that mountains are feminine (think mounds), while the Pyrénées are masculine (think pyramid), but I'm mystified as to why beer is feminine, but the glass is masculine...
Well, of course, I'd be happy to demonstrate that it held precisely two demis (and tap water could be used for greater precision).
I know in some UK pubs there's a bit of a tradition where old-time regulars can have their own tankard behind the bar, but I don't think I'd introduce that in France just yet. :-}
There is also the possibility of getting up the nose of the local French patrons. It's bad enough getting strange looks when a bar does have one or two large glasses for me to request (assuring the bar staff I can indeed suffer the shame of being seen to use one).
There is talk that the bar may be taken over by a Dutch chappie, so I'm thinking it may be best to wait for that to happen in a year or so (given his other bars have 50cl glasses).
I only drank Berliner Weisse (mit Himbeer) when visiting Berlin and that was usually served in a 33cl bowl-like glass. My drink of choice was a Düsseldorf Altbier and they always came in 0.2l glasses.
"Demi pression" seems to work around here. I've just come back from a quick trip to Scotland and happened to come across a beer festival in Biggar (lovely place). I tried all the beers in 1/3 pint glasses until I'd decided which of the 12 real ales was best - and it was from the Isle of Skye - a beer called Blaven. Not surprisingly the barrel of Blaven ran empty first.
Aha, a Bockbier man then. Heresy to drink that in larger than 20cl.
The Kneipe less than 80m from my flat in Kreuzberg had the 20cl glasses but they were normally full of dust from misuse. Schultheiss, Berliner Kindl and Berliner Bürgerbräu were never sold in 'Kleene', to use the local vernacular. Even the foul, sweet Berliner Weisse is served in a 0.5l, albeit drunk through a straw (but then it is low alcohol and the Waldmeistersirup or whichever other in it knocks that down a bit).
I had a wonderful discussion over a few about why 25cl should be a 'demi' when it clearly is 'un quart'. The only answer we could come up with is that pre Napoleon and decimalisation the standard unit of measurement for Beer would have been a pint.
I've always known 50cl as a serieux. A litre as a formidable.
I was conveniently ignoring Bavarian traditions as, apart from the aforementioned Weissen Bier, they were irrelevant in the area where I lived for 26 years and there is a strong tradition of local beers throughout Germany. Larger glasses were usually available, after all the standard size of the crated beer, zum mitnehmen, is 0.5l. Plenty of Irish bars too for anyone wanting British beers that conformed to Reinhetsgebot. Not that there were too many of those of course! I just adapted to the local ways drinking 20cl glasses most of the time and enjoyed the cold, fresh refills. It a similar situation with French cider, I’m quite happy drinking that from a small glass when in the UK I would expect it to come as a pint.
Might there be a ‘weights and measures’ type problem with you providing your own glass?
Depends where you are. In the northern half of Germany you ask for a half (einen Halben) for a half litre, but then you can get full litres or two litres in a Stiefel. Civilisation, eh! Draft beer in less than a half litre only if it is the gassy stuff. In Berlin or Hamburg a small glass of tap beer is frowned on.
Hereabouts it doesn't matter what one asks for, they do it. However, Guinness and Beamish are both available on draft but they only serve it in small glasses. Ask for a chope and they look at you like you are a freak! I have a bar owner friend who has travelled the world a fair bit, knows how the rest of the world sups ale and does it the other way round though, pity is he has Guinness and not Beamish.
Just buy two at a time :) . (And actually for Belgian beers, I prefer the proper small glasses, otherwise it gets too warm by the end of the glass often: so if I'm really thirsty and suspect the first one won't touch the sides, I just order two of them :) . You often get an added humour bonus doing that too: the server can really tell you were thirsty and often gives a big grin).
My other quandary, is whether I'd cause grievous offence to the proprietor of my nearest bar, if I asked him whether it'd be alright if I brought in a 50cl glass for him to fill with pression - given he only has gallopin and demi glasses.
I was there this warm evening, and by the time I sat down with my biere, the glass had barely a couple of sips left in it.
It is very regional. Here in the Beaujolais you can order:
Gallopin = 12.5 cl
Demi = 25cl
Serieux (or pinte) = 50cl
I remember ordering "une grande bierre" in a place in Paris and getting a litre but that was a tourist trap.
I used to spend a lot of time in Holland where they think you are strange if you drink draught beer in glasses larger than 10cl. They claim that the smaller glasses provide the freshest taste.
In Germany the easiest way to get a 50cl beer was to drink Weissen Bier, their usual size for draught beer is 20, or possibly 33cl.
When in Rome…
I asked a Corsican colleague about this. His response:
"It is a mess, but there are reasons for this :
“Chope” is the glass, while “Pinte” is a unit of measurement.
Par abus de langage, on appelle parfois « chope » tout contenant pouvant servir à boire de la bière, mais le terme de « chope » désigne (selon le dictionnaire officiel de l'Académie française) en fait un verre d'une contenance d'un demi-litre (50 cl). En France, pour cette contenance, on parle également de « baron », de « distingué », de « sérieux », de « mini-chevalier » ou plus communément de « pinte ».
And if the beer situation seems ridiculous in France, look at the column for Belgium :
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verre_%C3%A0_bi%C3%A8re#Contenances ".