Heineken embraces the schooner

Heineken UK will offer its trade customers two-thirds of a pint glasses when government legislation on measures is relaxed on 1 October.

Since 1698, pubs have been restricted to selling draught beer in pints, half pints or the less common third of a pint.

Following the legislation change, Heineken UK will release around half a million new branded schooners, as the size is referred to in Australia, into the trade from November.

Lawson Mountstevens, sales managing director for the on-trade at Heineken UK, lent his support to the measures amendment, saying: “Premium and specialist draught beer brands like Heineken, Amstel and Tiger are likely to benefit most from being served in the new two-thirds of a pint measure.”

In particular, Mountstevens predicted that the new size would increase the appeal of beer as a food partner, as well as helping it bridge the gender divide, claiming that the schooners “will encourage more pub and restaurant diners to choose premium beer with food, and research suggests that they will also appeal to male and female drinkers who see the new two-thirds pint glass as the perfect ‘halfway house’ between traditional pint and half pint beer serves.”