Talk:Yard of ale/Archive 1

Mis Information
Sorry I have probably edited this wrong, but I'm unsure how to do it I just felt like clearing a few things up.

I'm from New Zealand and here's what's wrong with this article:

It is not a pub game. Definitely not. Carry on reading as I explain it's origin later.

The aim is not to finish it without pausing or Breathing, as it can take some people up to 10 minutes to finish. It is to finish it as fast as possible with as little spews and leakage. The average person finishes it in 3-7 minutes. However many factors can contribute to the time taken including how many beers have already been consumed, the time it has been settling, type of beer, and the person. The record is currently 11 seconds by Bob Hawke in 1955 I believe.s

America: Those miniature plastic ones are not actually "miniature yard glasses" They just happened to be shaped like that, I'm pretty sure anyway. They have no connection to the yard glass.

Oz and NZ: It is more prevalent in NZ and so it would be fair to swap a lot of those "Australia's" to "New Zealand"

The Story of the yard glass, to my knowledge is this:

The yard glass has always been used for festive events and acts of manly prowess. It was never intended for normal daily drinking. In the early 1600's (1617 I believe) a man proclaimed that a man must be able to drink "by the yard" in order to admitted as "a man of fashion"

In 1685, John Evelyn the diarist, mentions, "proclaiming the King at Bromley, his Majesty's health being drunk in a "flint glass a yard long." (I do not understand that statement myself, perhaps someone with knowledge of old English literature can make better sense of it.)

Proper technique requires two people for this task. The drinker and the pourer. The drinker must take a knee and the pourer holds the beer, as it is being drunk the pourers job is to help lift the glass, after the first bulb has almost been drunk, the pourer must start to twist the glass. The spiral effect is also used with the German tradition of drinking 'the boot'. The twisting must carry on until the glass has been finished. The twisting allows air to pass the beer freely and not bubble pass creating a splash back effect. If the pourer pushes the beer too far up, beer will be split, too slow and the drinker will have trouble drinking. Spinning too slow and the beer will bubble. It is common for the drinker to choose someone of significance to pour it for them. E.g. Father, brother, uncle, best friend etc The glass is usually poured many hours before it is drunk to allow the fizz to release. The pouring is also usually done by the significant person of choice to the drinker.

Hope this clears things up and someone can make changes to the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.167.144.11 (talk) 09:00, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Rarely used?
While I've never done a yard myself due to insufficient speed-drinking prowess (I'm more of a marathon runner), I'd dispute that they're rarely used. Hell, they even showed one in use on Eastenders a couple of days ago. PeteVerdon 17:15, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
 * OK I'll change this. Ben Finn 13:29, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

Photo?
Being American I don't think the description of the glass does much justice. If someone has a picture of it, that would be nice.--Theloniouszen 06:42, 7 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Done. I managed to find a good picture under a suitable license to upload. PeteVerdon 00:18, 13 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks, that clears it up.--Theloniouszen 05:25, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

this should be a "did you know" front page fact Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke was at one time the world record holder, for fastest sculling of a yard of beer.

New Zealand Yard Glass
I can't vouch for Australia, but in NZ the yard glass is for your 21st not your 18th!
 * This is purely anecdotal, but I must say that at least in the circles in which I move, as a 19-y/o Australian, I haven't ever come across this alleged tradition. I haven't even seen these glasses in shops, indicating that there isn't demand for them. Perhaps I don't know many bogans, but a glass such as this would generally be considered too expensive and fragile to be giving them for 18ths. --60.241.134.64 (talk) 06:33, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

also in new zealand and i also beleive australia the yard glass is 2.2l not 2 pints as stated in the article

Name
the curent name isn't very good, most people know it as a yard glass. right now it seems to say that yard is a type of beer. 218.186.9.1 12:39, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Record for drinking
I'm surprised that the record for 2 pints is 5 seconds. Whilst at college in the late '70s / early '80s, there was one chap who could open his throat and down a full 3 pinter in 3 seconds. Of course I don't have a published citation for this (unless it was in Felix). --GreenLady UK 00:51, 19 August 2007 (UTC)
 * There is some doubt that Bob Hawke did in fact hold a record in drinking a yard of ale. The http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2003/7/4/20179.html suggests it was a sconce pot instead, and since this report seems to be closer to the source than the link used, may be more authorative. Ajdonnison 22:13, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

pop culture reference
"Das Boot" in Beerfest is most likely a reference to "Stiefel trinken" in Germany and not the beer yard. See http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiefel_(Trinkgefäß)

History
In California (U.S.), we have a chain of restaurants called "The Yard House." Their web page states that the history of the glass is from England, and was designed to be handed to stage coach drivers (http://www.yardhouse.com/yh_history.asp). I thought this may be interesting trivia if true, and the fact that there are restaurants named after a glass also seems interesting. KidDoctor 21:45, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Contradiction re: volume
The first sentence of this article states "A yard … refers to the (variable) quantity of beer…", while the next sentence states "The glass … holds 2 imperial pints…". Which is correct? me_and (talk) 01:30, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here. Maximum caution and careful attention was done to avoid any wrongly tagging any categories, but mistakes may happen... If you have concerns, please inform the project members on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 07:37, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Drinking of the fish from the bulb of the yard
If the wikilink is correct, the ritual is presumably for newly qualified US Navy submarine officers so the text should be changed. If it's for newly qualified submarine officers in many navies around the world, the wikilink is wrong. Does anyone know whether the link or the text should be changed? One of them is wrong. --Northernhenge (talk) 09:33, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Heading "America"
Should this not be "United States"?

In contrast "England" for example is used instead of United Kingdom, and since all the info is specific to England that seems reasonable. SimonTrew (talk) 15:23, 30 March 2009 (UTC)