Crafty tavern keepers who have tried to sell "pints" in glasses that hold less than 16 ounces of beer better be on the lookout, legislators in Michigan introduced a bill that would make it illegal to pass off a lesser amount of beer as a pint, according to Fox News.
Democratic Rep. David Knezek, the youngest member of the Michigan state House, introduced the bill that would require establishments to serve 16 ounce pints. The bill doesn't say what exactly would happen if bars were to continue to call 14 ounce glasses pints, according to the Huffington Post.
"The people of the state of Michigan enact: Sec. 1006. An on-premises licensee shall not advertise or sell any glass of beer as a pint in this state unless that glass contains at least 16 ounces of beer," the bill says.
Gary Lord, a plumber from Lansing, told the Detroit Free Press that he heartily supports the law since he has been to places where the pint he was sold definitely contained less than 16 ounces of beer.
"A pint should be a pint, and a U.S. pint to the best of my knowledge has 16 ounces," Lord said.
Mark Sellers, a bar owner from Grand Rapids, told the Detroit Free Press that the term pint is used to describe the style of glass not the amount of liquid that it can hold. While he maintains that his bars use 16-ounce pint glasses many others use 14-ounce glasses and call them pints and may be furious if they have to replace all of their glasses.
Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, is one of the co-sponsors of the bill. Michigan already has laws to ensure that the correct amount of gasoline or other consumer goods is sold and beer should have a similar statute, according to Mlive.com.
"Similarly when people buy a pint and they're served less than a pint, it strikes me as sort of low-level fraud," Irwin said.
