Oregon Brewers Festival Reducing Pour Sizes

Niki Ganong (probably more well-known to beery types as Suds Sister) noticed a disturbing change in this year's OBF: pour sizes are smaller:

For $7, you will now be buying a 12.8 oz. glass (down from 14 last year), which can be filled for four tokens.  The one token taster size is now three ounces instead of four. 

Look: inflation is real.  This pricing scheme has been in place at least since 1991--my first fest.  If organizer Art Larrance had kept the price consistent with inflation, we'd now be paying $1.71 for each token.  At those early fests, people knew they were paying a premium to get a pour at OBF--you could easily walk a block to a pub and find a cheaper pint of beer.  We were willing to pay that premium because we had access to beer we'd never seen before.  The price for a pint of beer at the fest last year was equivalent to $4--below the average price you'd pay a pub.  I have no problem with the Fest raising prices; indeed, I've been shocked to see, year after year, that they haven't gone up.

This is a really bad solution, though.  The result is almost certainly going to be longer lines--which was already the Fest's biggest problem.  If you reduce the amount of a pour, you reduce the amount of time people can stand and sip, share, and chat with friends, and the more time people will be forced into long lines.  I get that the fest wanted to maintain the elegance of the buck-a-token system.  Fine.  Charge a five-dollar, one-time entry fee.  That's more transparent, addresses the money issue without adding to the lines, and preserves the token pricing. 

Brace yourself, this year is going to be an interesting experiment.

No more plastic cups.  For $7, you will now be buying a 12.8 oz. glass (down from 14 oz. last year), which can be filled for four tokens.  The one token taster size is now three ounces instead of four.  The shorter taster pour is the result of new OLCC rules that apply to all beer festivals in the state.  The law does allow for full pours at beer festivals to be up to 16 ounces, so you can blame the OBF itself for the full glass shorting. - See more at: http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/big-changes-are-afoot-for-this-years-26th-annual-oregon-brewers-festival/#sthash.T96GSHqD.dpuf

eer festivals in the state.  The law does allow for full pours at beer festivals to be up to 16 ounces, so you can blame the O - See more at: http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/big-changes-are-afoot-for-this-years-26th-annual-oregon-brewers-festival/#sthash.T96GSHqD.dpuf

No more plastic cups.  For $7, you will now be buying a 12.8 oz. glass (down from 14 oz. last year), which can be filled for four tokens.  The one token taster size is now three ounces instead of four.  The shorter taster pour is the result of new OLCC rules that apply to all beer festivals in the state.  The law does allow for full pours at beer festivals to be up to 16 ounces, so you can blame the OBF itself for the full glass shorting. - See more at: http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/big-changes-are-afoot-for-this-years-26th-annual-oregon-brewers-festival/#sthash.T96GSHqD.dpuf

No more plastic cups.  For $7, you will now be buying a 12.8 oz. glass (down from 14 oz. last year), which can be filled for four tokens.  The one token taster size is now three ounces instead of four.  The shorter taster pour is the result of new OLCC rules that apply to all beer festivals in the state.  The law does allow for full pours at beer festivals to be up to 16 ounces, so you can blame the OBF itself for the full glass shorting. - See more at: http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/big-changes-are-afoot-for-this-years-26th-annual-oregon-brewers-festival/#sthash.T96GSHqD.dpuf