Trinken wir noch eins?

It was late Friday night at Sendlinger Augustiner (The proud home of Schnitzel-Saturdays, Schweinebraten-Mondays, and Burger-Tuesdays) when Jamie, Kim, and I learned the Bavarian answer to the question "Trinken wir noch eins?" (Sould we drink one more beer?).

In a state where a "Halbes" (half beer) is half a liter, and bars don't tend to keep smaller glasses on hand, deciding whether the evening is done or not can be a significant question. (Although it is possible to literally "grab one for the road"...) Of course, given the importance of beer for the local economy (when the federal government decided to implement a sales tax hike, Bavarian parliamentarians argued that beer, as a staple food, should be exempted... unfortunately, their argument didn't carry too much water in Berlin, where you'd be lucky to find a beer as large as half-a-liter at most bars), one would expect Bavarians to have a compelling answer to the "to drink or not to drink" question.

And, as it turns out, they do:

The answer is called a "Schnitt" (or according to Kurt, a "Kinderbier"), and its a pretty ingenious response. Not only can the bartender serve up a Schnitt in a half liter glass, ordering a Schnitt allows the patron to get a full glass of beer and to sit back for a minute (or ten), and enjoy the last beer of the night. The bartender pours a Schnitt by allowing most of the big half-liter glass to fill up with head, and delivers it to your table while its still foaming. After ten minutes or so, the head dies down and right before your eyes, somewhere between a half and two-thirds of the glass fills up with beer. So, next time you're in Bavaria and you're forced to decide whether or not to drink one more beer, you could always just order a Schnitt.