440ml and 275ml

Blisterman

What is the deal with these obscure amounts? Lots of supermarkets in England sell beer in 440ml cans or 275ml bottles. As far as I'm aware these don't equal anything, unlike, say 330ml (Approximately 1/3 litre) or 500ml (half litre).

Is it just a way of selling you less beer, while looking, to the untrained eye, like you're getting full size containers.

Mantel

Is it related to US measurements at all? It relates to about 15 1/2 fluid ounces (american)

I did come across this news article from a few years ago, related?

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2848412/Beer-industry-set-to-relaunch.html

BeerNut

440ml has long been the standard UK canned beer measurement and I've no idea why. 275ml is roughly half a pint.

delta_bravo

I think the reason for the 275ml bottle is that it equates to exactly one unit of alcohol for most lagers

rubadub

BeerNut wrote: »

440ml has long been the standard UK canned beer measurement and I've no idea why.

I always wondered too. I thought it might have been 330ml +1/3, maybe an offer back when introduced, by a 440ml can for the same as a 330ml bottle.

I much prefer 440ml & 275ml cans/bottles, as long as the price per litre is comparable.

I saw 300ml budweiser bottles recently, was a new one on my, and particularly sly as at a glance it looks the same, i.e. not in the 200's

donaghs

American bottles are also common in 355ml - 12 Fluid Ounces.

BeerNut

rubadub wrote: »

I thought it might have been 330ml +1/3, maybe an offer back when introduced, by a 440ml can for the same as a 330ml bottle.

But 330ml wasn't a standard measure in the UK until quite recently: the last 15 years or so. Anybody remember the "Heineken 33cl: A Great New Number" TV ads from the mid-1990s? When I was young, stupid and living up north I used to drink bottles of Tennents which were about 275ml, or possibly less. For 70p a bottle in a niteclub one didn't ask too many questions. I can still taste the blue tinfoil and glue which helped mask the taste of the beer...

pa990

BeerNut wrote: »

But 330ml wasn't a standard measure in the UK until quite recently: the last 15 years or so. Anybody remember the "Heineken 33cl.

errr 330ml and 33cl.. its the same thing

or am i missing something ¿

BeerNut

pa990 wrote: »

am i missing something ¿

My point in its entirety, I think

As recently as the 1990s, 330ml became a standard beer measurement in the UK, long after 440ml was established for cans. This is illustrated by Heineken's 1990s campaign promoting 330ml bottles as a (great) new thing.

pdebarra

The Aussies have funny measures, too, e.g. 375 ml. Does this make a round number in Fl. Oz.?

pa990

i think that equals 1/10 of a us gallon