#FUSS Tour of Gastown Part 1

After the explosion that was our first #FUSS testing trip on Commercial Drive we decided to take a slightly different tack based on some of the hateful criticism directed our way. No live tweeting, we would record the tests in HD with a small sign and then email the individual locations with the results asking them to comment. If they did comment then we would publish the conversation in full so that we have total disclosure and transparency. Because of that lag (and other distractions) it has taken some time to sort out. I’ve also cut out the names of the individuals we contacted as a courtesy. My emails do get a bit same-y as you can imagine, sorry about that. I’ll keep updating this as the conversations continue (if relevant) as far as my sanity will allow. I’ve not edited the emails except where it would identify the individual.

Here now is the first part of our Tour of Gastown conducted on Saturday July 12 2014.

First up: Steamworks brewpub – great beer, and big friends of CAMRA BC – they’ve been great to us and we hope that will continue. I know some people might think that we shouldn’t have done some of these locations, saying we are ungrateful or “attacking craft” but really this issue goes beyond all that and if we chose to avoid them then we would be cherry-picking and playing favourites.

I had a brief phone chat with a Senior Manager but no email response so I tried again:

Hi Steamworks,

Good Afternoon Adam,

Thank you for your follow up.  Your original email came in the middle of menu & glassware conversion at the pub, so in fact the timing was great as we were able to modify the majority of our menu runs and beer listing in short order.  We have in fact adjusted our sizing to include the 18 oz. (or 16 oz in the case of our snifters) on our in-house menus as well as on our new chalk boards which will be installed this week.

Kindest, Steamworks

 

Fantastic! That’s great news, I’m so glad that we were able to work this out so swiftly and efficiently. Thanks so much for being so helpful and cooperative – it really means a lot to us.

Please keep up the great work and I hope that Steamworks and CAMRA BC continue to be great friends in the craft beer community. I’m really looking forward to putting this on our website for you:

 

Next 131 Water:

This one was out by quite a margin, we left a #FUSS card along with my President business card and we received an email from a manager there even before we had finished the tour and well before we had sent the video:

I did test the glass as 16oz but to be safe I blacked out the 16oz pint so I could avoid any misleading adverts.

As for the full price charge on the parallel, we did have some confusion as to what beer was offered at $4.  That has since been clarified with our staff.  Thank you for bring this to my attention and you may quote my email, just don’t use my name please.

Thank you,

Thank you for your quick reply and thanks for being so cooperative and reasonable, this is an excellent first step!

I’m looking forward to giving your restaurant public praise for stepping up and making the change.

The last step is to comply with the regulations stating the correct serving sizes, however that could conceivably wait until you reprint your menus to minimize any costs associated with the change.

Not a problem about the P49 Happy Hour beer, when the servers realized that the sign outside was wrong they quickly changed it and honoured the offer with us which is to their and your credit.

Adam

 

Next up: Pub 340

Hi There

 

Lovely to meet and talk with your barman on Saturday (we were the guys measuring your beers), here is the email I promised him.

 As you might know CAMRA BC as consumer advocates have a campaign called #FUSS, which for the last 2.5 years has been encouraging businesses that serve draft beer to comply with government regulation to:

• Post serving sizes clearly.
  
• Deliver that serving size within +/- 0.5 imperial oz.
  
• Serve 20 imperial oz. of beer if a “pint” is posted.
  

Again, these are legal requirements not CAMRA BC’s rules.

We noticed that you didn’t use the word “pint” and your barman (sorry I forgot his name) was very good for knowing that a pint was 20oz and that you were serving “not a pint”. This is great although you aren’t actually posting the serving size volumes which is a requirement. when we asked how much was in the glass he told us “18oz” i.e. just short of the full 20oz.

 Over the last few weeks we have been taking a lab-calibrated cup to various locations, last week we went to Commercial Drive and this week (Saturday 12th) we went to 7 locations in Gastown. In each location we would order a beer- a “pint” if available and then video ourselves pouring the drink into the measuring cup. 

 Please know that we are not picking on anyone, we have tried to get a good cross-section of watering holes including craft and non-craft, high-end and “lower” end, pubs, brewpubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, clubs etc.

 As you know we video’d pouring a pint into our cup and it fell a few ounces short of the 18oz the barman said, it ended up around the 16oz mark.

 I have attached the video results for you. Apologies for the quality – I do have the video in HD if you prefer, although the file size is rather large and difficult to email. I am emailing all of the locations individually in this way.

 The glasses might hold about 20oz of beer if filled to the brim, however this is not the poured serving size and according to Measurement Canada head size is not to be included in liquid volume.

 We have not yet publicly released the videos as we did last week in order to avoid trolls and bloggers, nor have the videos been forwarded to the city licencing officers, Measurements Canada or any other authority.

 I am writing to you so that we can start a dialogue and hopefully find a solution. I have a few suggestions which would comply with the regulations:

 1. Buy new glassware that will deliver the posted serving size – Stateside Craft has already done this less than a week after we contacted them, we recently retested them, they were spot-on and so we gave them some love on social media.

2. Altering the menu or wall posting so that “16oz” is listed this can be done when the beer menus are next printed to minimise costs. (another location in Gastown have already taken down their “pint” notices)

3. Fill the glasses closer to the brim, a serving of no less than 17.5oz is within the +/- 0.5oz allowable error range.

 I am aiming to post the results of these tests and the resulting conversation in the next few weeks, for reasons of transparency please could all official communications be confined to email so that they can be uploaded to the web.

We’re not trying to cause trouble, we just want to help drinkers get the serving they ordered.

Thanks for being cool about everything.

Cheers

Adam July 16 2014

Hi Pub 340,

 

Attached is the email sent you a few weeks ago. I’ve not received a response from you yet (if you’ve sent one could you resend it please?) and I wanted to let you know that we will be releasing the video and the accompanying dialogue on our website in the next day or two.

I look forward to receiving an email from you soon.

Cheers

Adam August 5 2014

I did not receive an email a few weeks ago, I am sorry, I somehow missed it or it was mis filed in spam or something.

I assure you I have no intention of misleading any one, over the last few years, or now , for that matter.

A few years ago when I set up the inventory for the bar, I recall measuring the actual amount of ounzes in all of our pours, pints, glasses of beer, glasses of wine, etc.

It is quite clear I need to do that again.

Again, it has NEVER been our intention to mis lead consumers in any way.

I would like to meet you. I think it would be nice to talk to you face to face, and find out what you are all about, and it would be nice if you in turn, did the same.

Hi Pub340,

sorry you didn’t get my last email – good job I checked!

Thanks for contacting me I’d love to chat with you face to face, I’m afraid I’m going away on Thursday for the weekend but I can meet you tomorrow afternoon around 5pm or later around 10pm? Failing that would next week be ok?

Just so you know we’re not accusing anyone of misrepresentation or anything like that, nor are we trying to cause any trouble – we’re just encouraging bars, pubs and restaurants to comply with the licencing rules around posting serving sizes so that consumers are aware of what they are buying. If you would like more information about our campaign you can find it on our website: http://camravancouver.ca/advocacy/fuss/

Primarily CAMRA BC is a craft beer consumer advocacy group but we wanted to try lots of different places in Gastown to get a good cross-section. We aren’t picking on anyone individually. It’s also important that you know CAMRA BC is completely independent, we receive no money from any private business or association,we are 100% financed by our membership.

Our first testing tour was conducted on Commercial Drive here is the information about that: http://camravancouver.ca/?p=154590

Cheers

Adam August 5 2014

I won’t be around later today to meet with you. It doesn’t really matter.

We will be glad to post a large and noticeable sign saying our mugs are sixteen ounzes. I will, of course, do more measuring, but I am sure you were using accurate measuring beakers. We use a 20 ounze pint glass, you saw the pour, it looks good,to the eye it would seem like an 18 or 19 ounce pour. As I mentioned earlier, when we did the master inventory sheet, we had to measure all pours, and I was sure we were 18 to 18 1/2 ounzes. A lot of places using smaller glass ware, and leave a large head. We do neither, and have often been told we serve a nice pint of beer compared to others. We charge 3.50, which were are in the process of changing to conform to the new regulations.

Your info will be helpful to everyone, with the new liquor laws saying you MUST charge so much per ounze, I would expect everyone will be very interested in the actual pour size of the different establishments.

 Hope your day goes well. Regards, Pub340

That’s just great! I really appreciate how you’re dealing with this – you were already ahead of the curve by not saying “pint” and the fact you’ve already done the master inventory sheet shows that you’re determined to do the right thing. I know it’s tricky at the moment, the government seems to be changing things every few weeks which just makes things harder for for licencees like you to keep up with. 

We are finding that most licencees we have spoken to have been very reasonable and helpful, just like you. The beer we bought at 340 was the best value and the only one served in a proper mug (I’m English so I love that). 

As you may be aware a new Federal Law called “Fairness at the pumps” has come into force this month allowing people to complain to Measurement Canada if they are under-poured, your changes mean that you’re prepared for this.

Many thanks for getting in touch and it’s my pleasure to give you our thumbs up!

Have a great day and Cheers!

Adam August 6 2014

That’s all for now – follow the link to part deux where we hit up the Lamplighter, Alibi Room, Funky Winkerbeans and Tuc craft kitchen – only one location nailed it first time, can you guess which?