One size doesn't fit all beer styles

Pat Fahey can't remember the last time his only choice in beer size was 16 or 22 ounces.

Oh, wait, it was at the airport last week.

It wasn't a beer bar, where the response to "What are you having?" is often measured in ounces that range from 4 to 12.

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Increasingly, when it comes to serving up a beer, size matters.

"The idea of different pour sizes is certainly a useful construct," said Fahey, content director for the Cicerone Certification Program, a Chicago-based business that trains beverage industry personnel and others on beer styles and service.

On the consumer side, offering a variety of pour sizes allows for options. You don't have to sit there nursing that warm pint of IPA you don't really want to finish but paid for. You can taste it and move on.

Brewery tap rooms started the trend so that customers could try several beer styles. Beer festivals, which focus on exploring beer styles, rely on it. Milwaukee bars are slowly adapting to it.

Fractional pours let you "dip your toes before you jump in the pool," said Jay Jordan, sipping an Oktoberfest on a warm afternoon at Draft & Vessel, 4417 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood.

It makes sense when consumers have to choose one beer from 50 tap lines, sometimes more, at Milwaukee-area watering holes.

Draft & Vessel starts at 5-ounce pours. Some beers, those in limited quantity or those super-high in alcohol (measured as ABV, or alcohol by volume), are served as 10-ounce pours in specialty glasses. Others go down fine by the pint.

"A lot of people drink the 5-ounce because they want to try others," said manager Eric Gutbrod. Prices range between $2 and $5 for a smaller pour.

Draft & Vessel also provides free samples so customers can taste before buying. The 1-ounce gulp is just enough to decide if you might like it.

On the other hand, ordering 5 ounces of beer at half the price of a pint "gives you the full profile," Gutbrod said.

Drinking beer and grocery shopping may also be a new experience for Milwaukee, and servers want to be sure you like what you get.

Down the street from Draft & Vessel, Metro Market, 4075 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood, offers beers by the 4-ounce, 6-ounce and 9-ounce glass.

At Whole Foods, 11100 W. Burleigh St., Wauwatosa, customers can sample anything on tap, said store manager Ted Beres. One-ounce samples are free.

Calvin Raab pours a 12-ounce glass of 3 Floyds Zombie Dust for a counter full of late-afternoon customers. The rule of thumb is the higher the ABV, the smaller the glass. Whole Foods has 10, 12 and 16-ounce glasses for its beers on tap.

Customer Chelsea LaBerge isn't concerned about the size of the glass. She's just happy her 12 ounces of the sought-after American Pale Ale is in a tulip glass.

"It's not about the pour. It's about the glass," she said. "The flavor is better."

Black Husky Brewing, 909 E. Locust St., sells its beers in 7-, 12- and 16-ounce pours. The options encourage patrons to experiment.

"This is a tasting room," said Toni Eichinger, who owns the brewery with her husband, Tim Eichinger. "You can have two, three or four (beers) in a small size."

She points out a difference between flights and small pours. "Flights force you into a certain number of beers," Toni said.

At a bar, flights are a collection of small pours, up to seven at a time, of different styles of beer from the same brewery.

From the get-go, ABV Social, 11200 W. Burleigh St., Wauwatosa, offered 4-ounce servings. The upscale sports bar has 24 taps with a variety of beers to choose from.

"We got some push-back from bartenders who have to wash all the glasses and fill them," said assistant general manager Jamie Shiparski.

It can be a problem clearing glassware and maintaining service when customers can down a glass in two gulps. But Shiparski said it's worth it.

"I'm a consumer, and I like to try stuff," he said. "When I go to a great bar and they have 20 beers, I'm going want 10 of them."

And when some beers are $10 or $12 for a standard size, it's easier to take a chance on Bière de Garde that's "crazy expensive," Shiparski added.

Tim Brady tested the theory of fractional pours at his restaurant and brewery in Vermont, then wrote about it last spring for the Brewers Association, a national craft brewers group. He had his staff track all 1-ounce sample pours. After two years of recording the samples, Brady discovered that a majority of guests who requested a sample went on to order a full-size pour.

As a result, his restaurant began to offer every draft product in a 4-ounce size. The restaurant started making a bigger profit per keg. The number of free samples dropped in favor of paid 4-ounce options.

And patrons praised the brewery on social media for offering the smaller pour option.