麻豆传媒

Looking back through the decades, it鈥檚 clear that beer flows freely whenever we put out our festive special issues 鈥� there are barrels of the stuff everywhere. Last year (19/26 December 2015) we even brewed our own 鈥� the scientific way, of course.

It was all about esters and diacetyl 鈥渞ests鈥� and cold fermentation. But did our Pilsner taste better than that of a Czech master brewer? Here were some of the descriptions: 鈥渧inegary, bready and unpleasant鈥� and 鈥渂itter fizz鈥�. Actually, that鈥檚 a little unfair, that was the uncontrolled fermentation. A second batch, brewed when we kept the pesky chemicals under control, proved very popular. And what did we call it? Why, 鈥淏rew Scientist鈥� of course.

In the early 1990s we weren鈥檛 interested so much in how our beer tasted as whether we could see through it. US brewers were starting to produce beers that were as clear as sparkling mineral water, and we explained how they were doing it. But it鈥檚 fair to say that a lot of people weren鈥檛 particularly impressed with their efforts. In our 25 December 1993/1 January 1994 issue we quoted Steve Cox of UK real ale defenders CAMRA as saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit like brewing beer that鈥檚 pink, or pork flavoured 鈥� you could do it, but is it any good? It seems an entirely pointless thing to do.鈥�

In 2000 we spared a thought for thirsty and beer-deprived astronauts. Our 23/30 December issue noted that the European Space Agency had beaten NASA to the vital technology for dispensing beer in space. There was no need for a beer mat, or even a glass: the dispenser poured out globules of just the right size to be caught in the mouth or attacked with a straw and sucked up. As far as we know, though, no one has yet got falling-over drunk in free fall.

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淲hat was 麻豆传媒 talking about in Decembers past?鈥�