A pint-sized ripoff is costing thirsty B.C. beer drinkers tens of millions of dollars annually.

A Vancouver Sun investigation of 15 pubs and bars in the city claiming to be selling “pints” of beer found that nine of the establishments — or 60 per cent — failed to pour at or near the legal requirement of 20 Imperial ounces.

The average pint purchased by The Sun cost $6.19 and the average serving size was just 17.5 ounces, equal to an overcharging of 77 cents.

If all 42 million litres of draft beer consumed last year in B.C. were sold on the same basis, the consumer ripoff would total more than $50 million, and the equivalent volume of more than two Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The worst offender uncovered by The Sun proved to be the Holiday Inn bar on Howe Street, which served a measly 14 ounces of Granville Island Honey Lager — a full six ounces short of the legal requirement.

The second-shortest pour was at Wings on Granville, which served 15 ounces of Sleeman’s Honey Brown.

Other notable fails included Mahony & Sons at Canada Place — which claims on its menu that “all pints are 20 oz. Mahony size!” — and yet served only 16 ounces of Goose Island Honkers Ale.

Yaggers on West Pender advertised a pint of Okanagan Spring 1516 Lager on its street sign but produced only 16 ounces, as did Malones on West Pender for a Driftwood Fat Tug IPA.

Even calling your bar The Pint doesn’t guarantee a legal pour. The Sun received less than 18 ounces of Red Racer IPA from the Abbott Street establishment.

The Sun surveyed only pubs that advertised “pint” sales on their menus or signs — or where servers verbally confirmed the sale of pints.

Six bars poured at or near the legal requirement for a pint: Rogue on West Cordova, Charlatan on Commercial Drive, Caffè Brixton on East Georgia, Alibi Room on Alexander Street, Library Square on West Georgia, and the Whip on East 6th.

The law is not at all fuzzy-headed on the issue of a legal pour.

Michel Cimpaye, a spokesperson for Industry Canada, explained that pubs and bars are required by the Weights and Measures Act to “deliver the quantity of commodity that they are claiming to sell.” In Canada, a “pint contains 20 ounces” and Ottawa defines the “limits of error on a pint as 0.5 ounces (about one tablespoon) above or below 20 ounces, not including the head or foam.”

Almost nothing is done to crack down on violators.

Measurements Canada does investigate consumer complaints, but the office is so little known to consumers that it fielded just one B.C. complaint about beer servings last year. Once the federal Fairness at the Pumps Act comes into the force on Aug. 1, bars can be fined up to $2,000 for violations.

Suzanne Anton, B.C.’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, refused to be interviewed by The Sun on the subject.

In an email to the 1,500-member Campaign for Real Ale Society — a beer advocacy group comprised of consumers and craft brewers — Anton said licensees must have a list available showing drinks, drink sizes and prices. Beyond that, the provincial government’s focus is on issues such as over-crowding, serving minors, public disturbances, and illegal activities at bars, pubs and restaurants, she wrote.

“If a customer is not pleased with the service in an establishment, they have the choice of raising the issue with the licensee or taking their business to other bars or restaurants,” Anton concluded.

But that’s not good enough for Paddy Treavor, the head of Campaign for Real Ale’s advocacy committee. “If you went into a gas station and it said $1.49 a litre and they pumped out 750 millilitres for that $1.49, would you tolerate it? No. Would the government tolerate it? No. But somehow (short-pouring a beer) is okay.”

Even the bars caught serving less than a pint to The Sun were quick to confirm that customers are being duped.

“There is much deception in the Vancouver marketplace with regards to beer pricing and glassware size, and we are proud at Mahony & Sons to advertise our 20-oz size pint glasses,” said the bar’s general manager, Pete Mahony Jr.

Then why was The Sun served 16 ounces? Goose Island Honkers Ale is a new product supplied by Labatt and the glassware provided was only 16 ounces and not 20, he said. The drink carried a lower price but not enough to reflect the difference in volume. Drink menus have already been submitted for reprinting with the correct pricing for the product.

“Honest mistake on our end, and (we) appreciate you pointing it out,” Mahony said.

Yaggers’ Trevor Poirier agreed there is “a lot of confusion” in the marketplace but that his bar tries to make things clearer to customers by stating on its menu that it serves a “16-ounce pint” — which has no legal basis in Canada.

“We do not lie about our size,” he said. The sidewalk sign from which The Sun ordered only said “pint” and not the serving size.

Bar staff may also be confused about the meaning of a pint. At Havana on Commercial Drive, one male server described a 16-ounce pour as “one ounce less than a pint.”

Rachelle Tambeau, beverage manager of the Holiday Inn, had a curt but polite reply when asked why her establishment served six ounces short of a legal pint. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to investigate. But thank-you for the information.”

Wings’ representative Rana Singh said of the 15-ounce serving: “I’ve got to look into that, why it is 15.”

The Pint’s general manager, Chad Hubbs, said that all beer glassware is 20 ounces from manufacturers and beer representatives. “Unfortunately, sometimes ... the keg temperature and the amount of beer flowing through the taps can definitely increase or decrease the amount of ‘head’ or foam at the top of a pour. I do honestly believe this would have been a mistake and does not happen on a regular basis.”

The problem with a 20-ounce glass is that it is guaranteed never to serve a full pint because of allowances for foam.

When The Sun tackled this issue five years ago, only two of 15 bars — Steamworks in Vancouver and Jimy Mac’s in Langley — served a legal 20-ounce pint. The average serving was 17 ounces.

The Sun also discovered then that B.C.’s Liquor Control and Licensing Branch stipulated that individual servings of draft beer could not exceed 500 millilitres or 17.5 ounces — effectively legislating a legal pint out of existence in B.C.

In March 2010, seven months after The Sun’s story, the province increased the maximum legal size of a single serving of draft beer to 680 millilitres (24 ounces).

The province said it enacted the change to make sales of pints of draft beer legal in B.C. and to make single-serving draft sales consistent with the two standard-sized bottles of beer (24 ounces) that an individual is permitted to order at one time.

That is not the only difference this time around in The Sun’s investigation of beer servings.

More bars are moving away from the pint and selling “glasses” or “sleeves”, neither of which have a legal definition. Bars are still required to provide the amount they claim to be serving, but often don’t list it on their menu. And when they do, it can be confusing.

“We’re pressing the government to enforce the law they have in place that all licensed establishments must have a serving size list available for consumers,” Treavor said. “Anybody that’s gone into a restaurant or bar can tell you that is largely ignored.”

If customers don’t know how big their servings are, they also won’t know if they have been drinking too much, he argued.

“We’re not trying to dictate to the industry — you need to serve pints. But please tell me what you’re pouring. Consumers cannot make informed decisions about what they’re purchasing.”

St. Augustine’s on Commercial Drive puts fine print in the bottom left hand corner of its draft beer menu, stating: “All pours are served as 414 ml unless otherwise specified.” Assuming you can find the qualifier, how may patrons know that 414 ml equals 14.5 ounces — 5.5 ounces short of a pint? No one from St. Augustine’s got back to The Sun.

Craft Beer Market on West 1st, lists serving sizes next to specific beers on the menu, typically “0.45L,” which is about 16 ounces.

The bottom line is that consumers should ask waiters up front about the amount being poured and recognize that there can be different serving sizes for different types of beers, especially craft options.

If you think the pour doesn’t measure up, complain to your waiter, to the bar manager, or to the regional Measurements Canada office by phone at 1-855-666-3834 or email at BC-CB-Yukon-District “We’ll have to start inundating them with complaints until they go, ‘Hey, we have to deal with this situation.’”

lpynn@vancouversun.com

Follow me: @LPynn

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Here’s how Vancouver Sun reporter Larry Pynn measured the beer serving sizes:

• Find a quiet, isolated table in a bar;

• Order a beer that is sold as a pint on the menu, on a sign, or described as a pint by the waiter;

• When it arrives, match a thin strip of duct tape to the top of beer line, below the foam;

• Pour the beer out into a container;

• Fill the beer glass up to the beer line with water from another container;

• Pour the water into a large measuring container to calculate the beer serving.

(Note: pouring the beer directly into the measuring container would create foam and affect the results.)

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A legal pint in Canada is 20 ounces, with a margin of error of 0.5 ounces. Let’s see what some bars are pouring:

Holiday Inn, Howe St.

Granville Island Honey Lager, $6.00

14 ounces

Biercraft, 3305 Cambie

Bomber ESB, $6.50

17.5 ounces

Mahony & Sons, 1055 Canada Place

Goose Island Honkers Ale, $7.50

16 ounces

Yaggers, 433 West Pender

1516, $4.25

16 ounces

The Pint, 455 Abbott Street

Red Racer IPA, $8.25

17.5 ounces

Library Square, 300 West Georgia

Guinness, $5.00

19.5 ounces

Lennox, 800 Granville

Russell Angry Scotch Ale, $6.75

17.5 ounces

Wings, 1162 Granville

Sleeman’s Honey Brown, $5.15

15 ounces

Roxy, 932 Granville

Whistler Lager, $4.00

17.5 ounces

Rogue, 601 West Cordova

Le Trou du Diable Shawnigan Handshake, $9.25

19.5 ounces

Malones, 608 West Pender

Driftwood Fat Tug IPA, $5.22

16 ounces

Charlatan, 1447 Commercial Drive

Driftwood White Bark, $6.50

19.5 ounces

Alibi Room, 157 Alexander St.

Hoyne Summer Haze Honey Hefeweizen, $6.50

19.5 ounces

Caffè Brixton, 212 East Georgia

Stanley Park Amber Ale, $5.50

19.5 ounces

The Whip, 209 East 6th

Storm Black Plague, $6.50

19 ounces

Note: Approximate servings. Specific beers are not directly comparable. Prices may be based on Happy Hour.