What's "A Beer," Anyway?

The British government, specifically the National Weights and Measures Laboratory, is considering legalizing another serving size for beer – the two-thirds pint AKA the twother. This would join the full pint and the half-pint as a serving option.

Personally I’m all about having different serving sizes. Here in the US beer servings aren’t quite so closely regulated which means fewer headaches for bar owners but sometimes a raw deal for their customers.

But in the land of extreme beers it’s sometimes challenging to get less of an 11% beer than a 5% serving. Within individual bars the standards are usually well defined. Many is the time when I would appreciate having a half or some other percentage serving available. Once I had flashbacks of Spinal Tap whilst begging for half a serving of a particular beer; the bartender just stood there holding a beer glass saying, 'This is a pint.' He might have well put on a bad wig and insisted that 'These go to eleven.'

Perhaps we should all just agree to charge by volume and install gasoline pump style counters on beer taps. Then one could order by the ounce.