wrote:
Opps- EDIT-

I think in most regions of the US, it's sorta *understood* that the
term __"1/4 KEG"__ is a shorthand expression, meaning "a 1/4 [barrel
sized] keg".

On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:40:03 -0500, jesskidden wrote:

it's sorta *understood*

I just find it confusing.

The term "keg" (at least in 1946's
edition of the Master Brewers Assoc. of America's "The Practical
Brewer") was defined as: 1/4 barrel = 7 3/4 gallons - "keg" or
"quarter". 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.

Huh, you learn something new everyday. I would have thought that would be
the other way around. When I hear someone just calling it a "keg"
referring to its size I think of a half-barrel. I didn't realize that a
Pony was only 3 7/8 gallons, wow. I always thought a pony was a 1/4
barrel.

Cheers,
Ralph

On Nov 14, 9:16 pm, Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
Previously on rec.food.drink.beer, Killfile Victim #847238 said:

A six pack of bottles: around six dollars.
A new car: $15,000-$125,000
New Auto Insurance: $1000-$3500/ six months.

Damn... where do you live? I'm paying less than that for an entire
year.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"I never knew you could be so devious, Commander." "Coming from you,
Ambassador, that's a real compliment." (Amb. G'Kar and Cmdr. Sinclair,
B5 "Born to the Purple")

The above rates reflect what one can expect to pay after a drunk-
driving accident resulting in one or more deaths and/or injuries.
Remember, I'm not an actuary, I just play one in RSPW.

In article , wrote:
Brewer") was defined as: 1/4 barrel = 7 3/4 gallons - "keg" or
"quarter". 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.

When I was in college (Wisconsin), a "pony" was a keg
that was smaller than a quarter-barrel-- I don't recall
if they were 1/8- or 1/6-barrel. Needless to say, in
Wisconsin we didn't see too many poney barrels at parties.
--

Joel Plutchak "They're not people, they're HIPPIES!"
$LASTNAME at VERYWARMmail.com - Eric Cartman

"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
Phil wrote:
Swayne Austin wrote:

Oh ok. I have to buy like ten six packs, and
I thought it was the price of the imported shit.

No, while some flavored 'shit' is imported, most
of the unflavored 'shit' comes from Milwaukee,
St. Louis, and Denver.

Save yourself some money and buy a half or quarter
keg. You're buying enough beer.

To save you the time of figuring it out 10 six packs
is 5.625 gallons and a quarter keg (which costs less)
is 7.875 gallons. For a real party, you need a half
keg or 15.75 gallons.

Do not worry about buying too much beer.
Invite your friends from alt.beer - we know beer!

Around these parts whenever anybody gets a keg for a party you can pretty
much bank on them having a "Kill the Keg" party the week afterwards.

Good times, good times...

LG (partial to Yeungling Lager)
--
Visit www.fairtax.org , sign the petition, and make America what it could
be.

"Joel" wrote in message
...
In article , wrote:
Brewer") was defined as: 1/4 barrel = 7 3/4 gallons - "keg" or
"quarter". 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.

When I was in college (Wisconsin), a "pony" was a keg
that was smaller than a quarter-barrel-- I don't recall
if they were 1/8- or 1/6-barrel. Needless to say, in
Wisconsin we didn't see too many poney barrels at parties.
--

True. I too attended U.W. Madison and don't remember too many parties with
less then a 1/4 barrel, most often larger.

A Google search turned up this item called a Pony Keg Size Kegerator.
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draft...ny/MBD5L.shtml

"This compact beer dispenser is designed to hold any standard 5-liter mini
keg..."

So to them a pony is 5 liters (about 1.3 gallons).

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

Chris


Joel Plutchak "They're not people, they're HIPPIES!"
$LASTNAME at VERYWARMmail.com - Eric Cartman

True. I too attended U.W. Madison and don't remember too
many parties with less then a 1/4 barrel, most often larger.

A Google search turned up this item called a Pony Keg Size Kegerator.
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draft...ny/MBD5L.shtml

"This compact beer dispenser is designed to hold any standard
5-liter mini keg..."

So to them a pony is 5 liters (about 1.3 gallons).

5 liters - WoW. What are your friends suppose to drink?

Dick

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).

In article , wrote:
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.

Even hardcopy books are not immune from errors or biases
from the author(s). One of my favorite examples is from
somebody many people consider an expert on the topics of
grilling and BBQ. Unfortunately, in at least one of his
books, he twice places Kansas City, one of the centers of
BBQ, on the east bank of the Mississippi River, an entire
state away from where it actually is. Not that everybody
is a whiz at geography, but he should at least know something
about the areas on which he's supposed to be an expert.

Bottom line is that, as you say, terms vary regionally and
historically.
--

Joel Plutchak "They're not people, they're HIPPIES!"
$LASTNAME at VERYWARMmail.com - Eric Cartman

Joel wrote:
In article , wrote:
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.

Even hardcopy books are not immune from errors or biases
from the author(s).

Oh, absolutely. In the case of brewery/beer history, a lot of books
list the same few references, so if "100 Years of Brewing", say, made a
mis-statement about a brewery, that "fact" is repeated in every book
published after that. In this case, the "Dictionary of the History of
the American Brewing and Distilling Industries" also agrees that "pony
keg"= 1/8 barrel, but uses the Practical Brewer as a source, so it's
sort of worthless as "proof".

I feel it's not so much the "hard copy" aspect of the book, but the
"official" nature of it that makes it "definitive" (for 1946, at least).
"The Practical Brewer" being a well-known brewing industry "text"
from the MBAA, one that's been updated and reprinted several times IIRC.
Wonder if anyone who has a later edition could note if there's a
different definition of "pony keg".

For me, I've always been impressed that the singer in the country song
"Jackson" (best known in versions by Johnny Cash and June Carter or Lee
Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra) could dance on *top* of one of those little
1/8 barrels, so I guess the use of the term for any smaller keg size
does go back a few decades (not that a 1/4 barrel keg would be all that
much easier to dance on.). Maybe the original writer of the song was
from the Cincinnati area and was dancing on top of a beer store?

On a related subject, I've always wanted to know why those long neck
deposit quart bottles (i.e., not "steinie" quarts), of one quart to 40+
ounce size, used by Northeast breweries (the last ones I recall being
Narragansett bottles) were called "Bumper bottles" or "Bumper Quarts".