PINT BOTTLES MERE MEMORY, BUT DEMAND LINGERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 34, 5 September 1949, Page 7

PINT BOTTLES MERE MEMORY, BUT DEMAND LINGERS

Remember the pint bottle of beer that was much favoured in the Bay of Plenty during the early 1930’s until it’s almost virtual disappearance around 1940? The bottle now is only a memory but, strangely enough, nobody seems to know why it disappeared. Certainly it was not because of lack of demand, any bartender will vouch for their popularity as will most followers of the brown ale. Most hotel proprietors stress the popularity of the bottle and why it was in demand. “A quart bottle is just a bit too much, and to use it after recorking never seems to be quite the same,” said one stout drinker. “I always bought the pint size and still would if I could.” An inquiry of one veteran barman started him on a reminiscent train of thought, and he recalled the popularity of the “nip” bottles.. “They still ask for both the nip and pint bottles of stout,” he said. “The nips contained about 6oz, and the pints varied from 10 to 14oz, but they were a great thing and could be bought in most brands.” But for the thirsty gardener who finds a pint in the refrigerator “just enough,” there is still hope—if he is prepared to lodge an order large enough to interest a brewery. Some of the larger brewers still fill stray orders for pint bottles, but mostly from hospitals and tourist hotels. The Hermitage, Mt. Cook, has pints specially supplied. A few of the breweries still supply pint bottles of beer in the cities but the supply is meagre. Most breweries stopped bottling beer in the pint size early in the war because of the lack of crown tops and the practise has never been resumed. At the present time breweries in Auckland have their yards piled high with pint bottles but no attempt is being made to use • them. There is little less glass in a pint bottle than in a quart bottle, which means that substantially more labour and material would be required to bring about a widespread return of beer in pints. In addition, crates to hold the pint size would have to be produced, with the attendant difficulties of the supply of timber and labour.