Shape of glass and amount of alcohol poured: comparative study of effect of practice and concentration

Abstract

Objective To determine whether people pour different amounts into short, wide glasses than into tall, slender ones. Design College students practised pouring alcohol into a standard glass before pouring into larger glasses; bartenders poured alcohol for four mixed drinks either with no instructions or after being told to take their time. Setting University town and large city, United States. Participants 198 college students and 86 bartenders. Main outcome measures Volume of alcohol poured into short, wide and tall, slender glasses. Results Aiming to pour a "shot" of alcohol (1.5 ounces, 44.3 ml), both students and bartenders poured more into short, wide glasses than into tall slender glasses (46.1 ml v 44.7 ml and 54.6 ml v 46.4 ml, respectively). Practice reduced the tendency to overpour, but not for short, wide glasses. Despite an average of six years of experience, bartenders poured 20.5% more into short, wide glasses than tall, slender ones; paying careful attention reduced but did not eliminate the effect. Conclusions To avoid overpouring, use tall, narrow glasses or ones on which the alcohol level is premarked. To avoid underestimating the amount of alcohol consumed, studies using self reports of standard drinks should ask about the shape of the glass.

The taste of cutlery: how the taste of food is affected by the weight, size, shape, and colour of the cutlery used to eat it

“…Consumption behaviours can change with the shape of the glass [4,5], the size of the plateware [6][7][8], and the size of the cutlery with which a person eats [9,10]. Consumption behaviours are also affected by what a person hears (see [11] for a review) as well as by ambient lighting and music [12][13][14].…”

Neurophysiological Pathways to Obesity: Below Awareness and Beyond Individual Control

“…For example, in two studies, both adults and children underestimated the amount of liquid in short and wide glasses (24,25). In addition, people cannot accurately estimate the calories in various food items and underestimate calories depending on the context in which the foods are presented (26).…”

Alcohol measurement methodology in epidemiology: recent advances and opportunities

“…Some studies have shown respondents pictures of containers and glasses with pour levels marked with letters rather than volume labels and asked them to find the closest matching vessel and pour level, or in faceto-face situations, to solicit responses using actual glassware with labeled pour levels [153]. Other strategies include having respondents pour a drink like their usual one into glasses provided to estimate their usual pour [162,163] or to have them attempt to pour a standard drink into provided glasses to gauge their ability to do so [164,165]. Finally, direct measurement of simulated usual drinks poured at home is the method that we believe is most accurate for use in any survey mode where respondents are contacted in their own home (and a large proportion of drinking is in home settings-not always the case).…”