How much was a glass of draft when you first could go to the bar?

tyeeslayer

Super Member
My youngest Daughter treated me to drink last night and it got me thinking of "The good old days".
When I first turned 19 (The drinking age in Canada) I got a glass of draft for 85 cents.
How about when you were a young whippersnapper?
 
My youngest Daughter treated me to drink last night and it got me thinking of "The good old days".
When I first turned 19 (The drinking age in Canada) I got a glass of draft for 85 cents.
How about when you were a young whippersnapper?

I remember here in Ontario the year I turned 18 was the year the government raised the drinking age from 18 to 19 years old. But no problem there was always a few bars that would serve us unlucky 18 year olds. I dont remember exactly how much a glass of draft was but I would say about 85 cents or so sounds right, what I do remember is that it was the fashion to order two glasses of draft at time, which might very well be the reason I cant remember how much a glass cost.
 
Didn't have draft unless you bought the keg.

Cans/bottles were 90 cents.
Drink 9, get the 10th with change.

Pretty much used up my lifetime quota in a few years that way.
Them days are gone.
 
When in university in New Brunswick in the late 70's I think it was 80 cents for a 9oz glass. The pub closest to the university used to get so crowded on a weekend night that you ordered 4 at a time because you didn't know how long it would be before you saw the server again.

At some university events it was 60 cents for a bottle. I remember working at a pub night at the university where all I did for 2 hours was open bottles until I got muscle cramps. We sold 6000 in one night!

Drinking age was 19 in NB, but it was 18 in Nova Scotia and while in high school in Moncton we were only an hour's drive from Amherst in 1976 when I was 18. It might have been cheaper there.
 
Around 1982 or so my town was populated with several bars. You could go out 6 nights a week and find a quarter draft night at one of them. My favorite happy hour watering hole had free chicken wings and 1.00 40 ounce bottles of Anheuser Busch products back in 85, Monday through Friday. I ate a whole lot of 1.05 (nickel tax) dinners there.
 
In the very early 80's, I attended the Ohio State University and on/around the campus (which is huge) there were literally thousands of bars, ranging from little one room dumps to major clubs, all of which were clamoring for us poor student's money.

Lots of quarter draft nights and even one punk club that used to sell buckets of draft (literally the cheap plastic mop buckets) for a couple bucks. The place was all painted block and concrete with a stage at one end and big floor drains like a warehouse--at the end of the night they "cleaned" it with a firehose.
 
mid to late 70's at "The Canadian Club" they were 25 cents. Of course it was swill though, and a draft nowadays will run $10 +/- for something I will enjoy. There are many things about the "good old days" I miss, but this is not one of them.
 
Most of the time 50¢. We had a local bar that on Sunday, if you brought your own mug and paid $2 at the door, draft was free all night.
 
I didn't go to bars that much back in the day but I would say the price was well under $1. Of course there was no fancy beer back then.
 
What might be of interest is what draft beer cost locally now.

Most places start at over $6 and it is not unheard of to pay over $8 for a draft. Good happy hour prices are around $3.50 to $5 for a glass. A six pack is now about $10.
 
think I remember this...draft 27 cents...25 + 2 cents tax and 99 cent steak and fries...Picadilly Tavern Halifax, NS...1965-69.
 
For the life of me, I can't remember. :scratch2:

If someone else here was in Boston in the mid-80s, maybe they can shed some light.
 
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