It’s football season, which means it’s also sports bar season. If you’re hanging with some buddies enjoying a few beers and watching the game, someone at some point is probably going to suggest ordering a pitcher for the table. The standard pitcher you get in a bar typically holds 60 ounces of liquid, which means if you’re all drinking 12-ounce pours (the size of most small, cheap beer bottles), you’ll get five servings out of one jug. The catch is that most bars will bring you pint glasses, which carry up to 16 ounces when full to the brim. So if you’re filling your glasses all the way, your pitcher will amount to just under four beers altogether.
This means you need to make sure you get your headcount right before you place your order. You don’t want anyone nursing their disappointment with a partially filled drink — the worst thing you can have in a bar, aside from a dirty glass or a beer that’s been poured wrong, of course.
Pitchers of beer are usually slightly cheaper
There’s usually a bit of a price break provided when you order a pitcher of beer since you’re essentially ordering in bulk. Plenty of bars run specials on pitchers, often on brands from a large-scale macro brewery (think cheap but delicious beers like Budweiser or Coors), so you can save a few bucks by drinking this way. It’s a good option if you plan to camp out in the same booth all afternoon and sit through a few games. However, to keep team spirits high, you should probably check in with your buddies first to see what beers they prefer — once your pitcher’s at the table everyone’s got to be fine with drinking the same thing.
Of course, you could also order a bucket as well — these typically come with five or six bottles of beer and usually a bit of a price reduction too. From personal experience, I’ve noticed that the cheap beers included in buckets also tend to be from macro breweries. Of course, it all depends on which deals the bar has going for game day. Count all your friends, make sure they all want the same thing, and feel free to order a pitcher or two. Just remember to drink responsibly.
