Jimbo wrote:
"Joel" wrote in message
...
In article , wrote:
The other sizes (31, 15.5, 3 7/8) were called "Full" "Half"
and "Pony" (both the former and latter all but obsolete). Note, too,
that "pony" now means "1/4 barrel" in many areas, except Cincinnati, and
I still can't figure THAT one out.


A Google search turned up this item called a Pony Keg Size Kegerator.

However, other searches for pony kegs refer to 1/4 bbl.

Exactly (and as I noted above). Doing a Google search often will only
turn up *current* uses of a term, and definitions based on same
(Wikipedia being the most obvious). It's as if "Pony Keg" was such a
"fun" term that once that 1/8 keg size disappeared (altho' it appears as
if Straub still has some -
http://www.beveragebusiness.com/bbco...ryson0404.html ),
the term "drifted" to some other size beer container, up to the 1/4
barrel for some, down to the "mini-keg" (1 gallon, or 4 liter) for
others. I don't know, since those imported mini-kegs are usually
pasteurized, I think they should be called "maxi-cans"- closer to the
truth, but not as sexy.

For me, a hard copy of a reference book published by the Master Brewers
Association is pretty definitive for what a "pony keg" *once* was.

Of course, the term "pony bottle" was once quite common, too, for the 7
oz. bottle (esp. "refillable" deposit bottles- I still have a case of 42
bottles Esquire Beer [Jones Brewing Co.] in a barn in upstate NY that no
one in NE PA would ever take back). They, too, have all but disappeared
from many brewers' bottle options (the large macros, US and imported,
excepted). The longest lived one being Rolling Rock's, which, also has
a horse's head on the label and, so, many assume the "Pony" strictly
refers to RR. A small glass was also called a pony by some. (IIRC
"pony bottle" is also a term that antique bottle collectors use for some
pre-crown cap bottles, but it doesn't refer to a small size, so- go figure).