Cheers... and the best of luck - Jersey Evening Post

Still in everyday use throughout the 12 parishes, the pint has much more to say about the way lives are lived today than any quaint relic of the past. That said, it can also be held to be representative of the heyday of Jersey tourism, when beer at a knock-down price ranked highly among the reasons why holidaymakers chose to come to our shores.

Sadly, the iconic lustre of the pint glass is smudged and stained by certain present-day unpleasant associations. It features prominently in the phenomenon that we call binge drinking. Also, if you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in the vicinity of a bar-room brawl – or one that has spilled out onto the street – a population of pint glasses will not be very far away.

This association between the traditional measure for ales and lager and various forms of public disorder has not escaped the notice of our Island authorities. In common with the UK government, the minister overseeing the reform of our licensing laws, Senator Alan Maclean, has said that it is at least possible that the dominance of the pint as the standard beer glass will be challenged by an import from Australia, the schooner.

It is theorised that the use of this elegant piece of glassware, which has a flared top section and holds two-thirds of a pint, would help to limit alcohol consumption. Well, perhaps it would, but it must have occurred to someone that dedicated drinkers would simply increase the number of glasses drained in a session.

As anyone who has been to an Aussie bar will attest, it is not obligatory to extend the little finger while drinking from a schooner. The name might be redolent of a vessel of a similar shape but of smaller volume designed for serving sherry, but there is nothing effete about the glass of choice for 20 million Aussies – which brings us back to that barroom…

If anyone really believes that two-thirds of a pint measures will kill binge-drinking culture, they really ought to take a stroll through Sydney’s Kings Cross in the wee small hours of the morning.