Miller Lite recently introduced a new “Punch Top Can”

This can features an air-hole to make pouring smoother and reduce “glugging”.  Ok, laudable goal, though I personally never found this to be a major problem.

One thing that people have jumped on is the ability to “shotgun” the beer easier.  For those who are not “in the know” on “shotgunning”, this refers to tilting your head back, opening your throat and pouring the entire can down into your stomach.  This is especially popular at frat parties.

Now, call me a square, but I have never really understood this side of beer drinking.  If you want to get drunk, this is NOT a very efficient way to go about it.  Drink something with a higher alcohol content, and you’ll get drunk quicker without bloating your stomach and having to make trips to the bathroom every 5 minutes.  After all, as they say “you never really OWN beer, you just rent it for a while”.

Clearly, flavor has absolutely nothing to do with this style of beer drinking, as your taste buds barely touch the beer, so who cares what it tastes like.  This brings me to cold beer.  The colder the beer, the less you taste it.  So people who like REALLY icy cold beer aren’t getting much flavor.  This leads me to suspect that they just don’t really like the taste of beer.  In informal polls I have taken of various males throughout the years, it seems that a LOT of men don’t really like beer, but drink it because it’s the thing to do.  This, I suspect is one big driving factor behind icy cold beer.

Oh sure, you are going to tell me that you LOVE the taste of beer and that it’s just SO much more refreshing when it’s icy cold.  OK, I get that a cold drink on a hot day is nice.  Still, if you don’t like the taste when it’s not cold, then really, you don’t like beer.  Sorry to rain on your parade.  Also, if this blog entry makes you angry… ask yourself why!  It’s a beverage. Not your mother. Get over it.

Of course, since I’m British – COOL beer is (IMHO) the way to go.  You get to taste the beer (if that’s your thing).  Personally?  Give me a nice scotch or bourbon, thank you.