The Fat Tug Standard - One Man's Search for the Ultimate Pint

Things have been getting kind of heavy & political lately on VEBB so I thought I'd break up the rants with something I have enjoyed researching...back to your regularly broadcast programming shortly...

In search of the ultimate Fat Tug...sounds like a lot of fun to me

Back in the mid-80's, when I was on my first extended trip in Europe and Middle East, I developed some survival skills to help me get by in the wilds beyond the borders Surrey where I grew up.

One such skill of great importance was the one I used to decide which restaurant or bar I was going to plant my ass in and this method I dubbed "The Amstel Standard".

I developed this in Greece, where at that time the only decent beer I could find was Amstel and by decent, I mean best of a bad, Eurotrash selection. My method was based on sound empirical research and basically involved me looking at countless menus around whatever city/town/village I was in to see if they sold Amstel beer and if so, at what price.

If they did and the price was good, that's where I camped out and drank beer. Having only a few dollars a day to spend while backpacking, finding the cheapest place to slake my thirst was a top priority, as often I had to choose between food and beer (and you know who won that battle most days), so I would be on constant lookout for the best deal while out sightseeing or doing whatever it was I was up to that day.

Very advanced and clever, don't you think.

I adopted this method in each country I visited, renaming it after my favourite, or sometimes the only available beer in that country. In Israel, it was the "Gold Star Standard", the best adaptation of the name, but probably the worst beer I ever used as a standard, not that there was much choice in mid-80's in Israel.

The other day I got to thinking (yes, sometimes I have a momentary lapse of reason or two) and decided to research "The Fat Tug Standard", which, now that I think about it, sounds more like something that should catch the attention of the vice squad than searching for the best deal on my favourite beer. My love for this beer is only surpassed by my love for my wife and daughter so I thought I would do some "research". I just love it when my wife asks me where I am off and I can reply, "just doing research for my blog dear, see you in a few hours." Of course, she knows what this means, but in this case, at least she won't be able to easily find me perched at the bar in either St Augustine's or Tangent Cafe, my two locals, as I wander all Vancouver looking for the ultimate (read cheapest) Fat Tug.

I do have to say that there are many different factors that contribute to cost here in Vancouver that may not apply in the beach bars of Greece, such as the existence and cost of a liquor license and business permit, paying staff more than just drinks, costs of building upkeep (there is little upkeep when your bar is a palapa with no walls) and I tend to be less picky about where I drink when I am sitting with my feet in the sand surrounded by merry backpackers and scantily-clad Scandinavian women (obviously the Amstel Standard was developed during my single days) and when I am paying in currency valued much less than the Canadian dollar.

Here in Vancouver I choose where I belly up to the bar based on many different factors such as staff knowledge and service levels, how my beer is served, atmosphere, the ethics of the bar management/ownership, whether I want to watch the game or not, convenience to transit, approval of my wife, whether Fat Tug, or a suitable substitute IPA, is one tap and, of course, price, but price usually only factors in if it is so prohibitive that it obliterates all other factors.

I will do my best to break down the city into geographical areas and find as many taps of Fat Tug as I can and I will do a post per area researched. I know I will miss some areas and some locations, but hey, a man only has so much spare time, one liver and I cannot afford a divorce lawyer.

And for those of you who feel I am favouring Driftwood and Fat Tug beer, well, you are absolutely right. This is my blog and I prefer Fat Tug over any other beer in the world I have found.

Since I live about 200 metres of Commercial Drive, I figured that would be as good a place as any to start, so here we go...

(All prices pre-tax & rounded to the nearest cent in ounces only)

Commercial Drive - Draft 
Establishments listed from south to north from 12th Ave to Venables

Licensee	Serving Size	Price Regular	Price Special	Regular Price Breakdown	Special Price Breakdown
St Augustine’s	14oz/414ml	$6.00	$5.00 (Tuesdays)	$0.43 oz	$0.36 oz
Tangent Café	16oz/454ml	$6.00		$0.38 oz
Timbre	16oz/454ml	$6.50	$4.75 (Tuesdays)	$0.41 oz	$0.30 oz
Charlatan	20oz/568ml 16oz/454ml	$6.25 $4.99		$0.31 oz $0.31 oz
Storm Crow	20oz/568ml	$5.75		$0.29 oz
Biercraft	16oz/454ml	$6.50		$.41 oz

Commercial Drive - Bottle 

Licensee	Size	Price	Price Breakdown
Toby’s	22.9oz/650ml	$6.90	$0.30 oz
Liberty	22.9oz/650ml	$5.99	$0.26 oz
LDB	22.9oz/650ml	$5.50	$0.24 oz

If you see any places I have omitted, please email me at vaneastbeerblog@gmail.com and let me know. Also, if you work in an establishment in Vancouver that serves Fat Tug, email and let me know where, how much and serving size (uses ounces not words like sleeve that have absolutely no value).

Cheers and Happy Fat Tugging my friends.

Vancouver Licensees Beware the Pint Police

A sleeve is not a pint, or even close to one,
so don't call it one!!!
In Canada, 20oz = pint, nothing more, nothing less

I don't know about you but I am getting fed up with being mislead, whether intentionally or not, by bars and restaurants who advertise pints and serve sleeves.

Twice in the last few weeks I have seen restaurants on Commercial Drive advertising "pint" specials when they were serving sleeves, which are between 20-40% less in volume depending on which version of the hated glassware is being employed.

This pisses me off to no end as it is misleading at best and downright dishonest if the misrepresentation is advertised knowingly.

A few Mondays ago I notice Falconetti's tweeting about an all-day "pint" special. I tweeted back a few times asking if they were in fact serving 20oz pours and was met with silence. Later in the day, I walked past the restaurant, on my way to the park with my kid, and noticed a "pint" special advertised on their sidewalk chalkboard outside the restaurant. Curious, I stuck my head it the door and there was not a pint glass to be seen. Just to be sure, I called to enquire, and was told "pints" were apart of the Monday special and when I asked if it was actually a 20oz pour or a sleeve, the response was, "technically, I guess you are right, we serve 16oz sleeves."

Technically, really?

I wonder if I offered them $3.60, which is 20% of the $4.50 they were advertising their "pints" of lager for on Twitter, if I would have been told I was technically right as well?

I don't think that would have been acceptable to them as it should not be acceptable for consumers to be mislead. I would have been very pissed off if I had seen their tweet, traveled specifically to Falconetti's for this great pint deal only to receive a sleeve.

Eventually, after yet another tweet, where I pointed out that their tweet and sidewalk chalkboard board were inaccurate, whoever is in charge of Falc's Twitter account corrected their mistake and tweeted to clarified that they did, in fact, serve sleeves.

A few days later, while walking down Commercial, I noticed Timbre advertising "all draft pints $4" on their sidewalk chalkboard out front of their establishment.

'Wow, what a great deal," I said to my wife, better check this out." I stuck my head and was not too surprised to see that this too-good-to-be-true offer was in fact too good to be true.

Later, when I got home, I queried on Timbre's Facebook page if they did serve pints and immediately they answered back that they did serve sleeves. When I mentioned the chalkboard advertising, they responded it must have been an "oops" and that they would correct the problem.

I don't know if these mistakes, which are not isolated to Commercial Drive or these two places, are a result of some generational information gap for those raised on the metric system, failure to pay attention to detail or intentional misrepresentations. The Imperial System is as foreign to some as hops are to Alexander Keith's IPA, but that should be no excuse for attracting patrons into their establishments with what is basically false advertising, whether intentional or not.

I come from an age when a pint was a pint, sleeves did not exist and millilitres and litres were weird European concepts, but the majority of today's generation of servers and bartenders are from a different era, the era of the metric system and the non-standardized sleeve glass. But they need to learn that "pint" is not just a generic term for a serving of draft beer, no matter the size. The term pint has the official and legal volume in Canada of 20oz (1 gallon is 160oz, pint is 1/8 gallon), as per the Federal Weights and Measures Act, or in today's money, 568ml.

The term sleeve has no legal or standard volume attached to it in Canada and is a term invented by the pub and restaurant industry to decrease serving sizes and increase profits.

I am not stating that either Falconetti's or Timbre were intentionally misrepresenting their serving sizes because frankly I don't know, and I commend them both for publicly admitting and fixing their mistakes, but obviously someone at both locations did not know that a pint is an actual measure, at least I hope that was the case. I am quite sure these same folks would not advertise a dozen chicken wings knowing full-well that a dozen is defined by the number 12 and knowing that their serving sizes were much less than 12 wings.

So why is it okay to do this with beer?

CAMRA Vancouver, with the Fess Up to Serving Sizes Campaign (FUSS), have tried to address the misrepresentation of serving sizes here in Vancouver and even had the cause brought forth in the BC Legislature by NDP MLA Shane Simpson, but the BC Liquor Control and Licensing Branch have done little to ensure licensees do not mislead consumers and Rich Coleman, the Cabinet Minister responsible for alcohol, basically stated it did not matter.

But it matters to this consumer and as a result of being fed up with this problem, I am going to start waging a one-man war against this misrepresentation of draft beer serving sizes. It is us, the consumers, that must put pressure on licensees to change if we want to see change. I know others out there are frustrated and even angry about this issue. I, for one, intend to start trying to apply some pressure.

Stay tuned for future posts related to the Pint Police...