Vessels and Measures
Stange, Seidla, Maß, Pint: Regional Beer Vessels
A Stange in Cologne usually holds 0.2 liters, a Maß in Bavaria holds a liter, a British pint holds 568 milliliters. Every beer region has its own vessel, and the size reveals how beer is drunk there: in small glasses refilled fresh, or from a large stein at the beer garden table.
Kölsch Stange and Altbier Mug: Two Neighbors, Two Glasses
Cologne and Düsseldorf lie less than 40 kilometers apart, yet they drink from noticeably different glasses. Kölsch comes in the Stange, a slim, cylindrical glass usually holding 0.2 liters. The Kölsch Convention, signed in 1986 by 24 breweries, explicitly names the Stange as the serving vessel. This suits the beer: Kölsch is pale, top-fermented, highly attenuated and delicate. In a large glass it would turn warm and flat before it's finished.
The Köbes, as the waiter in a Cologne brewpub is called, carries the Stangen in a Kranz, a round tray with a handle, and keeps refilling as long as no beer mat is placed on the glass. Altbier, on the other hand, is drunk in Düsseldorf from the Becher, a somewhat wider, lower glass usually holding 0.25 liters. Alt is likewise top-fermented, but copper-colored to dark brown and noticeably more bitter. The wider mug gives the aroma of malt and hops more surface area.
Maß, Halbe and Seidla: What Do People Drink in Bavaria and Franconia?
In Bavaria, the Halbe, a half liter, is the everyday measure in the tavern. The Maß, a liter in a glass or stoneware stein, belongs mainly in the beer garden and at folk festivals; at the Munich Oktoberfest it's the standard vessel. The word is old: as early as the 1516 Bavarian territorial ordinance, today known as the Reinheitsgebot, the beer price per Maß was set. The Maß wasn't yet a metric unit at the time; its volume was based on local measures.
In Franconia the vessel is called a Seidla, the dialect form of Seidel. It refers to a handled glass or stoneware stein holding half a liter, often filled with Kellerbier, meaning unfiltered, naturally hazy lager. The stoneware stein stays cooler a bit longer in summer but hides color and clarity. In Austria you order a Krügerl for a half liter and a Seidl for 0.3 liters. So the same words mean different quantities depending on the region.
Pint: Why Is the British Pint Larger Than the American Pint?
The British Imperial pint holds 568 milliliters, the American pint only 473. Both trace back to old English measures that developed separately after US independence. In the United Kingdom, draft beer is one of the few goods that still must legally be sold in imperial units: as a third, half, two-thirds or full pint, and in multiples of a half pint. Some pubs call the two-thirds glass a schooner.
Typical pint glasses include the Nonic, which has a bulge below the rim that protects it when stacking and sits well in the hand, and the Dimpled Mug, a handled glass with pressed-in dimples. Order a pint of bitter in England and you'll get it filled nearly to the rim, with a thin layer of foam. This clearly sets pub culture apart from the Czech Republic or Bavaria, where a generous head is part of a proper pour.
Swiss Stange, Fill Line and Foam
The Stange itself is prone to confusion. In Switzerland it denotes a glass holding three deciliters, i.e. 0.3 liters, usually filled with pale lager rather than Kölsch. Order a Stange in Zurich and you'll get more, and a different beer, than in Cologne. Identical names for different glasses are the rule rather than the exception in beer, and travelers are wise to ask about the quantity if in doubt.
In Germany and Austria, serving glasses carry a fill line with a volume marking. It shows how much beer must be in the glass, and only the liquid counts. The foam belongs above the line, not below it. If there's noticeably less beer in the glass once the foam has settled, you're entitled to complain. On good glasses, the line therefore sits a few centimeters below the rim. That gap is the space the head of foam needs.