More Honest Pints in Salem!

I love waking up to an email with a new Honest Pint certification, but it gives me special pleasure when it appears to have been sent in by a patron. I believe that's the case with the newest Certified Purveyor--which also appears to be a new pub. To Scott, who sent in the photo below--thanks!


f/stop Fitzgerald's Public House
Certified Purveyor of an Honest Pint
335 Grove St. NE
Salem, OR, 97301
Facebook Page




You'll notice that the glassware at the f/stop is a cool variant of the dimpled Scottish mug and delivers well over 16 fluid ounces. I don't know so much about this pub, but Scott says they have three taps and that owner Kirk Kindle makes sure there are always locals on tap. As always, stop by and have a pint if you have the chance. And if you've been there, let us know what it's like.

Cheers--

Honest Pints in Salem

Venti's Cafe
Purveyor of an Honest Pint
325 Court Street NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-399-8733

The newest certified purveyor of an honest pint is down in Salem: Venti's Cafe. The owner, who sent me this photo, also notes that it's not actually all that easy to get 20 ounce glasses with a "calibrated logo." Well, we appreciate any pub willing to go the extra mile.

Venti's is principally a cafe, but they have eight taps, and appear to be expanding the beer line-up. (They also have an expansive bottle list, too.) The food includes a nice vegetarian selection, something you can't find at a lot of pubs. If you're down in Salem, be sure to stop in and have a pint.

Cheers!

Honest Pints in Houston, Texas

Okay, now we're getting somewhere: the first certified purveyor off the West Coast, and its in an unlikely state: Texas. Even better, the certification photo was sent in by what appears to be just an inspired bystander and beer fan named Hank. Any pub that can inspire customers is a pub I'd like to visit. But enough of the side talk. Drumroll please ... the latest Certified Purveyor of an Honest Pint is:


McGonigel's Mucky Duck
2425 Norfolk
Houston, TX 77098
website




McGonigel's is an Irish-Texas pub that serves good beer and Irish food, but features lots of live, Lone Star music. I couldn't be happier to send out the certification letter and placard to a Houston zip code--and I will, today.

If you're down in Texas, you know where to go--

Honest Pint Project in Draft Magazine

The September/October issue of Draft Magazine arrived in mailboxes and on shelves late last week, and we were pleased to find an editorial promoting the Honest Pint Project inside. Co-founder Jeff Alworth's article, "A Pint of Honesty" appears on the last page, in the "Beer Me" column slot. Unfortunately, although a fair amount of the issue's content is online, this piece is not. You'll have to go find it on the newsstand (Barnes and Noble carries Draft).

Here's an excerpt of the final paragraph, so you can get some of the gist:

[B]eer drinkers outside Oregon also deserve honest pints. Whenever I travel around, I study the glassware. It’s no different than it was here; drinkers across the country have no way of telling how large their glasses are, and the problem persists because customers haven’t demanded a change. The most important thing you can do is bring the issue to the attention of your local publican. He’s there to make you happy, and if you demand an honest pint, he’ll serve you one. If you know that your local does serve honest pints, go to the project's web site and find out how you can certify it as an Honest Purveyor. The time has come for America to have glassware standards as good as our beer. Go forth, beer drinkers, and demand an honest pint!

Draft Magazine
For those of you unfamiliar with it, Draft Magazine may now be the most interesting beer mag on the market. This issue has a great story on hop farming in Michigan, a piece on Okinawan sake (nearly lost after WWII, but making a comeback), and an article on innovations in brewing which really just charts the current state of American brewing. You will also appreciate their beer ratings, which do more to place their well-selected beers in context and provide the reader more clarity about what the beer will taste like and why it gets the rating it does. Good stuff--go pick up a copy.

Brewer's Union Local 180 Officially Certified!

Brewer's Union Local 180
Purveyor of an Honest Pint
48329 E. 1st Street
Oakridge, OR 97463
541-782-2024




The newest member of the Certified Club is Brewer's Union Local 180, in Oakridge, OR. And they serve very, very honest pints. Not only do their pints substantially exceed the volume standard, but they meet the gold standard of having a clear line marking 20 ounces. As a super extra bonus, the glasses are marked with a 10-ounce half-pint mark.

Brewer's Union distinguishes itself in even more: the brewery serves beer only one way--in what owner/brewer Ted Sobel no doubt things is the proper and only way--on cask. At present, Brewer's Union is the only all-cask brewery in the state. For those of you who love a pint of real ale, go have an Honest Pint of real ale. A perfect combo!

Two Certified in Southern California

The two newest pubs to be certified are in Southern California. Be sure to stop in for a pint if you're in the neighborhood:

Main Tap Tavern
518 E Main
El Cajon, CA 92020
Website

Blind Lady Ale House
3416 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
(619) 255-2491
Website

The full list of Certified Purveyors, as well as a Google map with locations, can be be found here.

Five Portland Pubs Certified!

Over the weekend, we officially certified five Portland-area pubs:

• Belmont Station, 4500 SE Stark St
• BridgePort Brewing, two locations
  
• Horse Brass Pub, 4534 SE Belmont St
• Lucky Lab Brewpub, three locations
  
• Roots Organic, 1520 SE 7th

Here's the full list. More to come--

Certification Saturday - July 11

Okay, time to get serious. When the Oregon legislature declared sine die two days ago, they made official the failure of Jules Bailey's Honest Pint Act. Since that bill was potentially going to duplicate my effort with the HPP, I have been waiting to see what would happen--no reason to certify pubs twice.

So on July 11, I am planning to embark upon Certification Saturday. I'm going to hit as many pubs on my list of provisionally certified list and get them fully certified. I have created crude placards and a less crude letter of certification, and with my trusty camera and pyrex measuring cup (inset), I will see how many I can do that day.

(Backgrounder on the Project here.)

I would love your help. If you would like to pitch in--either with pubs on the list or with ones you know of that aren't on the list--it will be super easy. All you have to do is take a measuring cup to a pub. Buy a pint of beer and dump it into the cup (if your cup isn't a quart, pour slowly!). Then take a picture with the cup showing at least 16 ounces of fluid, the glass you poured it out of, and preferably, shoot the shot in a distinctive portion of the pub for verification. Send me the pic and I'll send along a letter of certication and a placard directly to the pub.

If you live outside of Portland or in another part of the country, please consider certifying pubs in your town.

Pubs that serve an honest pint deserve to be recognized and patronized for for their good behavior. It's long past time that I started to make this official, and any help you can offer would be most welcome.

July 11th is smack-dab in the middle of Craft Beer Month--a perfect time to get started. Cheers--

Honest Pints in the New York Times!

From the "Freakonomics" blog, a little love for the Honest Pint:

Oregon’s House recently passed the “Honest Pint Act,” which would allow drinking establishments to display state-issued stickers certifying that their pint glasses actually hold 16 ounces, as opposed to the 13- and 14-ounce glasses that some bars try to pass off as pints. The act is predicted to cost at least $20,000, not including the price of pint “measuring tools.” House Republicans, meanwhile, think full pints should be the least of Oregonians’ concerns. (HT: Eric Samuelson)

Sweet!

Honest Pint Act Passes the Oregon House

The Honest Pint Bill passed another hurdle, making it out of the Oregon House. Now it's on to the Senate. The news was picked up by several outlets, including the Oregonian, who was on the case the same day the bill passed

"It's a little past 10:30 here, but it's 5 o'clock somewhere," said Rep. Jules Bailey, D-Portland, in opening his pitch on the floor.

The vote was 34-26. Critics argued businesses could do this on their own. They don't want state agencies spending time on this and anyway, isn't the economy tanking out there?

Rep. Nick Kahl, D-Portland, put his own spin on that kind of thinking.

"Our state faces serious problems and we're dealing with this bill," -- wait for it, wait for it -- "because now more than ever, Oregonians deserve a full 16 ounces.".

KGW also has a story up, quoting liberally from my blog, Beervana. As here:

“It's a camel's nose issue ... It establishes in the consumers' mind the issue and causes them to expect something more,” Alworth wrote on his blog, Beervana .

Finally, the Statesman-Journal ran a small piece as well.

Honest Pint in the Seattle Weekly

On Thursday, Seattle Weekly had a nice piece that covered both the Honest Pint Project and Oregon's proposed Honest Pint Act.

Enter Oregon House Bill 3122. Introduced in the state legislature in Salem earlier this month, the Honest Pint Act states that, as an added service during a regular visit by the health inspector, Oregon bars and restaurants may request a measuring test of their glassware. If it passes the full-pint test, the establishment is certified as serving an "Honest Pint," good for two years and for the privilege to display a sticker on premises. Jeff Alworth can take much of the credit for getting this bill off the ground. A much-respected beer blogger and long-time chronicler of beer for Willamette Week, his Web site, HonestPintProject.org, first proposed a non-legislative solution that the act in the legislature now closely resembles.

Go have a look at the whole article.

Denver Post, Seattle Times Cover Honest Pints

Both the Denver Post and Seattle Times had stories about the Honest Pint this past week. The meme continues to spread! The Post piece gave an overview of the project and Oregon State's proposed legislation to make the project law there.

Alworth even made The Wall Street Journal last summer, pointing out that if a consumer orders a pint and gets a 14-ounce glass, that's money in the seller's pocket. The rub comes when a tavern or pub promises "a pint," which, as we all learned in fifth grade, is 16 ounces. Unfortunately, there are fewer saloons using a 16-ounce glass. It is more likely to be a sturdier 14- ounce container, commonly known in the business as a shaker or mixer.

The Times' story was focused more narrowly on the Oregon legislation.

The "Honest Pint Act" is aimed at the practice of selling "pints" of beer in glasses, sometimes with thick bottoms, that can't hold the full liquid measure of a pint.

The bill, which got a hearing last week, would have state health inspectors on their regular rounds inspecting beer glasses for capacity. The extra review would entail a fee, the amount of which has yet to been determined, the Register-Guard of Eugene reported.

Barkeeps who pass the test would be rewarded with a decal, to be displayed on a window or door, proclaiming their establishments to be purveyors of an "honest pint."

Honest Pint on KATU/Portland

A nice piece by a local Portland television station, KATU, on the Honest Pint bill making its way through the Oregon legislature:

Honest Pint Act in the News

On Friday (April 3), the Oregon legislature had a hearing on the honest pint act--a bill that would make the Honest Pint Project Oregon law. From the Eugene Register-Guard:

The bill would set up a voluntary inspection program. When state health inspectors are making their already-scheduled visits to bars, pubs and restaurants, the businesses can request that they add on an inspection to determine whether their beer glasses hold at least a full pint of liquid. This added review would require the business to pay an as-yet-unspecified sum to cover the costs....

Bailey said the notion that servers of honest pints ought to have a way to distinguish themselves came to him through the blogging efforts of a constituent, Jeff Alworth, a Portland State University researcher and online beer and politics enthusiast....

Beyond that, “honest pint” certification would be one more step to burnish Oregon’s beer-centric reputation, he said. “The fact that we would promote something like this demonstrates that we take our beer pretty seriously,” Alworth said.

The Oregonian also covered the legislation in a front-page story.

SALEM -- It's not quite policing pints, but some legislators want to make sure brewpubs and taverns pour you a full glass of beer.

A bill that debuted before a House committee Friday calls for the state to measure servings and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to issue decals to establishments that meet the "honest pint" 16-ounce standard.

"If someone advertises a pint, don't you think you should get a pint?" said Rep. Mike Schaufler, D-Happy Valley, the business and labor committee chairman who is co-sponsoring the bill.

If you want to support help support this legislation, consider joining the Facebook page.

Hot Lips Pizza Certified Honest!

On March 19, the Project celebrated an important milestone: the very first fully authenticated Purveyor of an Honest Pint. In accordance with the certification process, Hot Lips Pizza, a small Portland, OR-area chain, has sent in a photo with the glassware they use, the amount of beer poured out of that glass, and a clearly-recognizeable shot of the establishment:


Honest Pints can be enjoyed at the following locations in Portland:

• SE Hawthorne at 22nd
• Downtown/PSU, SW 6th and Hall
• Pearl District, NW 10th and Irving
• Civic, SW 18th and Morrison
• 33rd & Killingsworth

Hot Lips has been added to the official list at the Honest Pint Project website. Congratulations!

Honest Pint Bill in the Oregon Legislature

The Honest Pint Project got a surprise when Representatitve Jules Bailey introduced it as HB 3122. The text of the bill was modeled on the Honest Pint Project and follows its goals and language nearly identically:

Allows holder of full on-premises sales license or limited on-premises sales license to obtain verification of capacity of pint glasses used at licensed premises for draught malt beverages. Allows holder to obtain display sticker from Oregon Liquor Control Commission if glasses at premises hold pint of malt beverage under standard conditions....

SECTION 2. { + (1) If the Director of Human Services ... determines, based on a random sampling of the glasses, that the glasses used at the premises hold at least 16 fluid ounces of draught malt beverage when dispensed under standard conditions established by the director, the director shall provide the holder of the license with written verification of the measurement....

(3) The Oregon Liquor Control Commission shall design a decal that features the words 'honest pint' for display at qualifying premises.... Upon receiving a valid measurement verification, the commission shall issue the holder an 'honest pint' decal for display at the licensed premises where the director conducted the measurement verification.

The bill is currently in committee, but the prospects look good. It is scheduled for a hearing on March 27.