NAMES FOR BEER

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 March 1934, Page 5

NAMES FOR BEER

POPULAR AUSTRALIAN TERMS Beei’ in Australia is known by many names. Whether a customer asks in a Melbourne hotel for a “pint,” a “mug,” a “beaker,” a “tankard,” a “handle,” a “jug,” a “noggin,” or merely a “pot” or a “beer,” the barman seems Io have little difficulty in understanding what is required.

The interstate traveller, however, sometimes finds himself momentarily at a loss. In Brisbane a tall 16oz. glass of beer is served to the customer who demands a “schooner,” but if he should give the same order in Newcastle the barman may raise an eyebrow and ask, “You mean a pot?” IL is debatable, says the Argus,

what the South Australian visitor to Melbourne would receive were he to follow his home custom and ask for a [“butcher.” A similai* reception might await tlie visitor fi'om Western Australia who asked for his “Jack” a term surviving from days when there were leather drinking vessels known as “black jacks,” or “flagons.” But the “pot” is- recognised almost everywhere. A pot of beer in Melbourne is, strictly speaking, a 12oz. glass with a handle, but the inquiiei for a pot may be served with a metal pot of 20oz— an Imperial pint. He may make sure of it by asking foi a “tin,” a “can,” “tankard,” “mug, “stein,” “pewter,” or “bucket. However, as the one costs 6d and the other at least lOd, glass pots are the more popular. .... In one famous hotel the thirsty may demand a huge vessel of fragile glass filled with a quart of ale. This is a “dreadnought.” . Another interesting variation be tween State and State is the custom in Queensland and Western Australia of bulk distribution in five and - lon casks, whereas in the south ® l “ and eastern states “nines are the vogue.