I’m actually quite a bit surprised that 200mL and 285mL would be the standard serving in Australia. 200mL is like a shot of beer to me. 
In Belgium, it’s complicated.
And mainly for tourists.
Cool! I’ve drunk from many of those, including the Lindeman flute style glass. 
I wonder if it’s something to do with Australia generally being a hot country*, and it being better to have lots of small ice-cold beers, rather than one long one that warms up quickly?
*Yeah I know the bars are probably air-conditioned, but some might not be.
Sam Adams had a commercial touting their new beer glass. It had laser etching or something to make the beer bubble in just the right way, and I think it had some special shape to the rim to do something or other. They were quite proud of it, and how it enhanced the taste and experience of drinking a Sam Adams beer. Newcastle Brown Ale responded with this commercial. Brilliant.
I think this is accurate for bars, but pints packaged for home consumption in Canada are usually 473 ml (or 500 ml if it’s a European beer sold in Canada). I can’t recall ever buying a can or bottle in Canada that was 568 ml. The pint glass I bought in the US has the same volume as many pint glasses sold in Canada.
Actually, that’s a good point. In Hungary sometimes we’d switch to the 300mL size on hot days just for that reason.
That’s just for ‘special beers’. If you want standard lager (most likely Jupiler), you will have some standard glasses (similar to Holland I’d think, but maybe no ‘fluitjes’). In Belgium ‘pintje’ is used for any glass of beer (as in ‘Let’s get a pintje’).
I have to say it’s a clever idea, though. I lived in the Netherlands for a couple of years and was introduced to the brand-customized-beer-glass-shape concept there, with the result that if I see a glass shaped like the “official” glass of one of my favorite Belgian ales, I start wanting one. Kind of cunning of them to get visual stimuli working in their favor without the customer even having to see the beer itself.
However, I haven’t the foggiest idea whether the “official” shape does anything for the taste of the beer other than just visually nudging you to crave it.
A friend of mine worked in a restaurant that received a shipment of complimentary 1 liter beer mugs from a Czech brewer. But they couldn’t use them since no one would pay what they’d have to charge for 1 liter and the mugs would be half empty if they served them with the amount they charged for. So he offered them to us, his friends. I picked up one for myself and four or so for my coworkers. They’re awesome mugs.
Correct, I was talking about bars. Due to the US being such a large market, most cans/bottles follow US bottling practices.
This depends on the province. In Ontario, a pint is just as you describe.
In Alberta, however, a “pint” seems to mean “a glass of beer off the tap.” So you can end up with anything: 14 oz, 16 oz, 18 oz, or 20 oz, depending on what the pub typically decides to serve. Larger sizes are available (a 32 oz “schooner,” for example). Pubs will tell you what size a “pint” means in the place if you ask, and some will even go so far as to tell you something like, “We have 16-ounce glasses, but we pour to 14 ounces.”
It drives an English friend of mine crazy, as when he orders a pint, he expects a proper, 20-ounce pint. Heck, it drives me crazy too, as I’m originally from Ontario, where a pint is–well, a pint.
The 200ml size isn’t common. The small sizes were traditionally served because your beer warmed up. Country pubs are not usually air conditioned, even now.
And IMHO an imperial pint, should come in an Imperial Pint Glass.
When I first was in China a couple of decades ago, generally speaking, beer was served in either 700m bottles or in bowls. This was in the 80’s. You’d order a beer and get the bottle with a bowl, eat your rice first and then use the bowl, or if it was on tap would get it served in the bowl. It wasn’t the rice bowl size but the next size up so probably 300-500 ml.
My father in law still often drinks his beer out of a bowl. He won’t turn down a glass or a mug, but a bowl is a-ok. I’ll often have a few bowls with him.
When I worked behind the bar we used to call the straight glasses, Sleeves, or Sleevers.
A stor stark (equivalent to just going to the bar and asking for “a beer”) isn’t a pint though. These days it is anywhere from 350 to 500ml, normally somewhere around 400 (I’d guess). They are often noticeably smaller than a proper pint.
Not that I’d drink the muck though.
To quote a sign that the former landlord of the Löwenbräu (which doesn’t serve Löwebräu beer any more) had on the wall “Don’t just ask for ‘a beer’! You don’t ask for ‘a food’, do you?”.
The comments seem to say that’s a response to Stella’s “chalice” commercials, which makes more sense.
I haven’t seen that one. The one that came to my mind was Sam Adams, since they made such a big deal about their glass.