Of legal gauge
The inventor of The Beer Gauge cracks down on the short pour
Photo: Shawn Lortie
Chris Holloway: the keeper of the Beer Gauge
If there’s one thing America needs right now, it’s more beer. So why are bars short-pouring their pints? Boulder scientist Chris Holloway doesn’t feel there’s any conspiracy among light-handed bartenders, but he has invented a way to thwart this alarming trend: the Beer Gauge. About the size of a credit card, the Gauge is an easy-to-use, mathematically sound device that calculates just how much beer is (or isn’t) in your pint glass. With online sales of his Beer Gauge climbing in today’s penny-pinching climate, Holloway spoke with Decider about his invention (while thankfully avoiding any “glass half-empty” jokes).
Decider: Specifically what kind of scientist are you?
Chris Holloway: I study how electromagnetic waves interact with objects, matter, materials. That’s sort of my specialty.
D: How did you make the leap to the Beer Gauge?
CH: At my day job, we’re real concerned about units. A unit is a unit. It’s been my bugaboo for years that when a bar tells me it’s giving me a pint of beer, I really don’t get that. A pint is 16 ounces; it’s not 14 or 12.
D: Did any particular incident trigger your invention?
CH: About a year and a half ago I was at one of my favorite pubs in Boulder getting one of my favorite beers. They were out on tap, but the bartender said they did have 22-ounce bombers in the bottle. We talked about the price, and he said, “Well, a bomber is basically two pints.” And I said, “How do you figure that?” He took the bomber and poured it into two pint glasses. They were both almost full. Twenty-two ounces isn’t even a pint and a half! So I went home and did the math. I was surprised. It doesn’t take much to get short-poured. Because of the way the glass is tapered, a half-inch from the top means you’re missing 13 percent of a pint; an inch from the top, you’re missing 25 percent. After four beers, you’ve sort of missed one.
D: Do you think most bars are aware they’re shorting people?
CH: The problem is the design of the pint glass. From a serving point of view, it’s hard to fill a pint glass to the top. There’s all the sloshing around and so forth. But some bartenders really don’t understand a pint is a true measure. I had a bartender tell me about six months ago that my Beer Gauge would not work in his bar because his pint glasses range anywhere from 14 to 20 ounces. So I said, “Well, it’s not a pint glass then, is it?” The word “pint” has been thrown around so much we forget what it means. But I’ve talked to other bars about their short pour, and they’ve said, “Yeah, we sort of know about that.”
D: So you still take the Beer Gauge out to bars?
CH: Yeah.The key is being very polite. [Laughs.] If it’s few millimeters from the top, I don’t worry about it too much. But if I get a real short pour, I’ll take out my Beer Gauge and bring the bartender over. We usually get a good chuckle out of it.
D: Have any bartenders gotten offended?
CH: I’ve had a few get angry about it. Not angry, but a little disgruntled, I should say. Then I remind them that if I’m missing 15 percent of my pour, that’s their tip.
D: Have you ever been drunk and tried to use the Beer Gauge on someone?
CH: No. [Laughs.] Sometimes it’s best not to get in any arguments when you’ve had one too many.
