...or at least it seems it does to the readers of this blog. I recently concluded a poll asking the question “What is your preferred size for bottled beers?” (meaning those of 5.0% ABV or less). There were 25 responses, broken down as follows:
330ml: 6 (24%)
500ml: 11 (44%)
Pint: 8 (32%)
So a decisive defeat for the smallest measure, and a surprisingly strong showing for the traditional pint. Having said that, the contents of a pint bottle won’t fit comfortably in a brim-measure pint glass – underlining the short measure that is endemic with draught beer in pubs. Personally, although I’m no great lover of the metric system, I find the combination of 500ml bottle and brim-measure pint glass ideal for at-home drinking.
Pint bottles of ale are now very rare. Charles Wells used to do Bombardier and Banana Bread Beer in pint bottles, but have now reverted to the 500ml size, although, oddly, a number of mass-market lagers such as Stella, Carlsberg and Carling are sold in pint cans, sometimes at a distinctly higher price per unit of volume than the 440ml ones.
You have to wonder whether the likes of BrewDog might be missing a trick by not putting beers like 77 Lager in bottles bigger than 330ml.