Nanny State?

As per my previous post I spent the day in London yesterday and ended up, after all our business was concluded, taking my team out for a few beers along the Bermondsey beer mile. Anyway, we ended up at the Cloudwater tap room on Enid street where there was a fine selection of the latest and greatest craft beers on offer, everything from uber murky New England IPAs to bone crushingly bitter West Coast IPAs as well as a couple of Imperial stouts flavoured with all kinds of Christmas goodness like Ginger and Chocolate. Everything was in its place and we settled in for a couple of drinks before catching the train home. I spotted on the board a particular beer that I wanted to try for ages, a West Coast IPA called Crystallography, something of a celebrity in the Westy world, anyway, I asked for two thirds of a pint of that beer and to my surprise was refused!? The barman drew my attention to a little notice above the beer board which stated that any beer at or above 8% ABV could only be served in half pints or less. I was a little taken aback but figured OK, house rules are house rules and not wanting to give the impression that I was some kind of trouble maker I ordered a half instead. 

Once back at the table I pondered this rule a little more. In most of these kinds of bars there are large fridges that contain all of the beers available in cans to consume on the premises or to take away and as I'd expect there were a stack of cans of this precise beer (Crystallography) available in 440ml cans (two thirds of a pint) When we'd all finished our beers I went and got our final round and spoke to the barman, I asked if he thought it odd that he couldn't serve me a measure of a particular beer from a tap but would happily serve it to me via a can instead, he sympathized, yeah he said, doesn't really make much sense but we do it to prevent uninitiated people ordering pints of 8% beer by mistake and regretting it. I could see what he meant, but still, it offended my logic gene a just little bit.