Verein gegen betrügerisches Einschenken - Munich

Well, well, well.

I've just stumbled upon an article about these chaps, and their century old mission to make sure that German beer drinkers are not short changed when guzzling down a maß or 5.

The VGBA website tells all, but it is only available in German, and you are greeted with the smiling faces of my mate Christian Ude (looking curiously orange - bit too much time in the Schwabing tanning studios mething Christian), and some bloke I don't know called Stoiber.

In England, its been commonplace for years for people to insist on absolutely no head (on their beers), and lager glasses filled up to such an extent that there is actually a visible meniscus atop the insipid amber brew. The weak gag "can you fit a whisky in there? Yes? Well bloody fill it up properly then" can still be heard in pubs across the country. The English are all bawdy drunks though, so that extra 5 ml of beer is of prime importance.

As anyone with any taste buds knows though, the froth on a beer is an important thing - but certainly not at the expense of beer space, hence the standard marks on beerglasses. Still though, the VGBE is seriously concerned about German beerdrinkers getting ripped off, particularly at the Oktoberfest or in biergartens over the summer where you may have more than one or tow drinkies, and shifty patrons may well take advantage of your euphoric boozed up state to slip you a cheekily undermeasure tipple.

From an article in the Deutche Welle:

Thats a lot of beer man. There is a bierzelt umfrage on the VGBE page where you can add your vote about beerglassfullness.
Apparently they also meet on the first and third tuesday of the month in the Hofbraühaus, and you can download registration forms from here.

that's some seriously random surfing you're up to this morning don! not sure i'd like to attend a meeting though, these guys may just take life a bit too seriously for my liking but i appreciate their efforts.

They have undercover guys at the Oktoberfest checking on the levels in the Mass.

Now that is a job, "Well I left work early but then I decided to get a bit of practice in"

Sounds like the first and third Tuesday of the month are good days to get a full glass at Hofbraühaus.

Madame showem is my beerline checker at the Wies'n. Whatever time day or night she can reliably tell if the beer is full enough and sort out a splash extra if needed. My advice would be to take her out with you at all times (of course, it might cost you the odd Maß to get her to stay checking though).

I can't find it, but there was an old Oktoberfest poster of a policeman sahking his finger at the kellner filling the beer, saying that he must make certain it is the full amount.

Showem is the best at getting skimpy Mass properly filled!

I'm always a bit scared of complaining in case the waitress then ignores you but you can go back to the Ausschank yourself can't you?

Not at Oktoberfest.

I'd have the same fear: get ignored for complaining.

Yes you can, I've done this at the O'Fest because the waitress said she couldn't do anything about it! I took 4 masses back and said to the guys that I would like them filled properly please. They didn't grumble or anything, just filled them up properly.

Cinzia, you most certainly CAN take it back to the Ausschank yourself during Oktoberfest! I've done it a few times. I won't say several, because after pointing it out to the waitress once and DIYing it, it's usually enough to make sure they are topped up the next round.

Respect, Showem!

Especially since I rarely end up with a full Mass at Oktoberfest. Which is usually OK, since that's the last place I'd ever want to be really drunk, but still. They shouldn't really be making money off that.

Can the waitresses really not do anything about it?

i guess when they're filling up thousands upon thousands of glasses constantly, even the most dilligent beer pourer could end up with a few with over sized heads. and with the volume they sell, i'm sure they don't give a monkey's about topping them up.

on the other hand, when you're on a leo sayer, the odd slop of missing beer really doesn't make a difference to me!

The waitress has too much going on to refill a not full Mass. But she can make sure it gets filled proper the first time if she's paying attention. It means better tips for her.

As for making money off of not-quite-full beer glasses, my understanding is that the breweries are taxed for 110L for every 100L they sell.

My rule of thumb at Oktoberfest really is my thumb. If the beer level is lower than my thumb edge from the top of the marker, it gets sent back. I do wait for the foam to settle a bit, just to make sure.

I doubt it's a matter of money. For the most part the waitstaff are more concerned about getting the beer to you as quickly as possible. Sitting around witing for the head on the beer to go down so you can fill up the beer takes a long time.

You can have it quick or you can have it accurate, with the kind of numbers you see at octoberfest you're going to go for quick over accurate. This shouldn't stop the customer from going up for a top up themselves though.

Grazzenger, it's intentional and everyone knows it. The Finanzamt knows it so well they tax a 200-litre keg for 210 Maß at O'Fest, which no one argues since they manage to squeeze 215-220 Maß out of those kegs. There's a similar 5% excess tax on the big beer tanks based on the reported delivery amount.

You can always walk up to the Ausschank to get the beer filled. The problem is that if you've even taken one sip, you have no more claim and it can take 15 minutes for the head to die down naturally. Furthermore, they'll often splash some high-pressure foamy run into your glass which will then fill and overflow the contents and you'll be back to the shorted amount once that settles, but with less carbonation.

woof.