‘You get less beer than you order’

If beer lovers feel cheated about the amount of their beloved beverage, the latest findings confirmed they are right.

A survey by the Korea Consumer Agency on 90 bars in six districts in Seoul showed they give 13 to 23 percent less beer than the amounts ordered.

The bars on average provided 435cc or 0.435 liter, when ordering 500cc, and 1,544cc for 2,000cc and 2,309 for 3,000cc of beer.

“Each bar offered varying amounts of beer; for a 3,000cc pitcher the difference amounted up to 460cc,” said an official.

Draft beer is widely enjoyed as the 300,000 kiloliters of draft beer that was in the market last year took up 16.3 percent of the total amount of beer.

The problem lies in the size of the glasses and jars which are smaller and carry less than the stated amount. Most of the pitchers and glasses at bars are provided for free from brewing companies OB Beer and Hite Jinro.

Measurements by the agency showed that 500cc glasses were fit but 2,000cc and 3,000cc pitchers contained only 1,700cc and 2,700cc of beer.

The agency’s survey of 1,000 adults aged 20 to 40 who had draft beer in the past two months showed 51.5 percent have draft beer two to three times a month, and 38.7 percent of them said they drink 1,000 to 2,000cc of beer each time.

Among the total number of respondents, 67.6 percent said they are not served the amount of beer they ordered and 99.6 percent of them said they are served less.

As a measure to prevent such practices, the agency has had brewing companies provide glasses and pitchers that have gradations on them.

The marks will indicate 450cc for 500cc glasses, 1,500cc for 1,700cc pitchers and 2,500cc for 2,700cc pitchers.

In Germany, where beer is the national alcoholic beverage, breweries provide special glasses for each type of beer which have gradations on them.

“Bars must use glasses that have gradations on them as well as menus that have the exact amount of beer served to properly inform consumers,” said the official. <The Korea Times/Kim Bo-eun>