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BEER - Pullman Co. Instructions for Serving - from Nov. 1969 Trains "Second Section"

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, December 11, 2014 5:11 AM

john_edwards
BaltACD
You have been prechilling the drinking glass with ice before pouring the beer into the drinking glass after having poured the chilling ice into another glass?
 

 
It's partly 'theatre' to do the byplay with the ice in front of the client -- but, on the other hand, the chill on the glass starts disappearing the moment it comes out of the freezer, and by the time you'd have taken it All The Way Down The Train To The Client... you'd probably have to re-chill it anyway, and the only practical way to do that "in the field" is via some variant of the method described.
 
BTW, this is the secret of proper iced tea: EVERYTHING that touches the tea, no matter how small, has to be at very low temperature, even the glass stirrers.  And you might think there is little difference between 36-38 degrees out of the fridge and zero degrees out of the freezer ... but there is. 
 
It's amazing how important chilling the glass is ... or the bottle, if you are a 'binky' person like me.  There is something of an art to chilling the bottle without starting to freeze the beer.  But it's an art well worth learning...
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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 9:35 PM

Quoting PDN: "[* - These 3 appearances of "beer" are lower case in the magazine -- but I have no idea why. - PDN.]"

Why? Because that is the way it is in the Commissary Instructions of 1939 (pp 60-61).

There is further instruction on p. 23--"2. Pullman beer service is distinctive as rendered by the Pullman Company. Therefore it is necessary that all road service employees adhere strictly to these instructions--paying particular attention to the chilling of the glass, in the presence of the passenger, by bringing the glass (No. 11) to passenger with finely chopped ice (2/3 full) in it and pouring the ice out of the glass (No. 11) into empty glass (No. 12) in full view of passenger, being careful that no water remains in the chilled glass (No. 11) when ice is emptied into glass (No. 12). Of course, under no circumstances should beer be poured into the glass containing the ice."

The Instruction book is FORM X29.919 of the Pullman COmpany.

Johnny

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Posted by john_edwards on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 6:25 PM

BaltACD
You have been prechilling the drinking glass with ice before pouring the beer into the drinking glass after having poured the chilling ice into another glass?

 

 

Dang, I overlooked that part.  I use the fridge to cool the glass (or mug),

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 4:23 PM

john_edwards

 Gee, I've been pouring beer that way ever since whenever.  OK at least since I stoped drinking generic American beers.  But today I'm a swine, drinking a cold Killian's from the bottle. Mmmm.....

 

John

You have been prechilling the drinking glass with ice before pouring the beer into the drinking glass after having poured the chilling ice into another glass?

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by spokyone on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 4:22 PM

Paul: Thanks for reminding me of back in the day. I was riding in the parlor car on the Super Chief, at track speed in Kansas one Sunday summer day in 1963. The attendant brought me a beer, similar to the method described. The beer was sooo good. I asked for another when the attendant came by a little while later. He informed me we were then in a dry county, and was required to wait until we passed through the next wet county. He then brought me a soft drink without all the ritual.

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Posted by john_edwards on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:50 PM

 Gee, I've been pouring beer that way ever since whenever.  OK at least since I stoped drinking generic American beers.  But today I'm a swine, drinking a cold Killian's from the bottle. Mmmm.....

 

John

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:47 PM

It occurs to me that it took much longer to read the procedure than it would to actually perform it.

The whole process sounds a lot like serving wine, especially the part about showing the label to the customer.

 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by CShaveRR on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 3:39 PM
Paul, I remember this from when it was originally published. I don't know whether copyrights expire like they used to, but you did the right thing by providing the reference.

Truly a lost art. But I daresay that the public would not know how to react if confronted by such a presentation today. I'll bet that if the bottle (or can) were presented to the purchaser now, it would just be grabbed out of the server's hand.

And this must have gotten old to the server after about three or four requests from the same passenger, who may have tolerated the entire procedure the first time, but wasn't quite as genteel an hour or so later.

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

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BEER - Pullman Co. Instructions for Serving - from Nov. 1969 Trains "Second Section"
Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 2:57 PM

I've been looking for this for a while, and finally found it !  It's too good not to share with a new generation that may not have seen it before - or those who have seen it but may have forgotten it, or where it was, etc. - so I've risked Kalmbach's wrath by retyping it below pretty much exactly as it appears in my copy (except that the line breaks, etc. and typeface have been changed). 

So study the composition and wordsmithing of then-Editor David P. Morgan in the introductory and concluding paragraphs, and - now that the warmer weather is here - use these instructions to impress your non-railroad friends with the detail, and enjoy the subject yourself !

- Paul North.

SECOND SECTION

How is a reputation built?        

  The question occurs as we survey Pullman in retrospect [pages 20-33]; and thanks to the archives of chronicler Arthur D. Dubin, we may have turned up one of the answers.  It is this: dwell on details, take for granted not even the simplest activity, dot your i’s and cross your t’s.  Example: beer.  Now what could be more ordinary than serving a bottle of beer, even in a Pullman lounge?  Yet the Pullman service manual in Dubin’s collection devotes two pages to a 12-point discourse on this simple act:

 BEER

1.               Ascertain from passenger what kind of Beer is desired. 

2.               Arrange set-up on bar tray in buffet: one cold bottle of Beer, which has been wiped, standing upright; glass (No. 11) 2/3 full of finely chopped ice (for chilling purpose – making it a distinctive service); glass (No. 12); bottle opener; and paper cocktail napkin.  Attendant should carry clean glass towel on his arm with fold pointing forward his hand while rendering service.

3.               Proceed to passenger with above set-up.

4.               Place bar tray with set-up on table (or etc.).

5.               Place paper cocktail napkin on table in front of passenger.

6.               Present bottle of Beer to passenger displaying label and cap.  Return bottle to bar tray.

7.               Pour ice from chilled glass (No. 11) into glass (No. 12).

8.               Open bottle of Beer with Bottle opener in presence of passenger (holding bottle at an angle), pointing neck of bottle away from passenger; wipe top of bottle with clean glass towel.

9.               Pour Beer into glass (no. 11) by placing top of bottle into glass, and slide the beer* down the side until beer* reaches about 2 inches from top – then put a collar on the beer* by dropping a little in the glass which now should be upright.

10.            Place glass containing Beer on paper cocktail napkin.

11.            Place bottle containing remainder of Beer on table before passenger, with label facing him.

12.            Remove bar tray with equipment not needed by passenger and return to buffet.

 

           Today only the most exclusive club, and not one on wheels, could afford the manpower cost per bottle of beer implied by that set of instructions, to say nothing of insuring the schooling and supervision involved.  Yet simply the knowledge that such a service standard existed once upon the steamcar may console one as he waits in line at the coach bar to exchange coins for a pull-tab can of beer and a wax-paper cup.

[* - These 3 appearances of "beer" are lower case in the magazine -- but I have no idea why. - PDN.]

From Trains magazine, November 1969, Vol. 30, No.1, pp. 54 (col. 2) - 55 (col. 2).

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)

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