What is a sleeve of pots? A sleeve of beer?

I recently read that someone had bought a "sleeve" of pots, and wondered what that meant. While trying to look it up I came across "sleeve of beer," but I couldn't find any definition for that either.

A "sleeve of beer," near as I can figure out, is a quantity of beer, 16 ounces or slightly less. The term is apparently used in British Columbia, Canada to mean a 1-ounce (or slightly less) beer, because of conflicting Canadian laws. Can anyone verify that?

Here's a quote from the Vancouver Sun (Canada) (via ratebeer.com forums).

quote:

A pint-sized ripoff

By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun August 21, 2009

Had a pint of beer at your local pub lately? Not likely, and certainly not legally.

It turns out the iconic, time-honoured working man’s drink does not technically exist in B.C., due to a strange and disparate brew of federal and provincial regulations.

The federal government insists that anyone who claims to be selling a pint in Canada had better pour a full Imperial pint measuring 20 ounces, or 568.26 millilitres.

The province’s Liquor Control and Licensing Branch, however, stipulates that individual servings of draft beer cannot exceed 500 millilitres or 17.5 ounces — effectively legislating a legal pint out of existence in B.C.

So many things these days are shrink-wrapped in plastic for shipping. I suppose the shrink-wrapping could be called a "sleeve." So perhaps "sleeve of pots" is several pots wrapped together. And I would guess that a "sleeve" of something is not a definite number. Anybody else have a guess? Or, better yet, does anyone know?

I don't know, Tinman, but I found interesting was that whoever wrote it in your link, put it in quotes.

The World Wide Words newsletter mentions "sleeve" or "sleever" in respect of a beer glass. See the last paragraph under schooner:

quote:

Tim Nott introduced me to another term: “In Cheltenham, where I lived 17 years ago, a sleever was a tall thin half-pint or pint beer glass without a handle.” This is well known, I discover, as a British term for a slightly tapered glass with a bulge near the top. Online sources suggest it has that name because they can be stacked, or sleeved. The term is also known in Australia, where a long-sleever is a large glass of beer.

Pots could be stacked in the same way; perhaps that is the meaning?

Oh, yes! I could see the term "sleeved" when glasses are stacked, though I've not heard it.