Madam, - I discovered I had a soul mate when I read Micheál Ó Nualláin's letter of May 28th highlighting the near impossibility of having a pint of stout served at the right temperature. I cannot even persuade my own golf club to turn up the heat. Apparently the temperature is set and monitored by the brewery representatives.
It seems that all breweries have decreed that their product must be served at a temperature so cold that it freezes the mouth and deactivates the taste buds. Guinness actually went one stage farther last year when it introduced an even colder tap which it accurately called "ice-cold". Fortunately, this doesn't seem to have caught on and is now used only in hospital ENT departments where it has been discovered to be a cheap and effective anaesthetic for patients undergoing tonsillectomy.
I believe the problem lies in the marketing departments of the breweries. These are populated by small armies of post-acne bright sparks who drink either Budweiser or Heineken which, for obvious reasons, must be consumed ice cold, and who believe that everyone should have tastes similar to their own.
I appeal to some of the more senior bright sparks to educate these youngsters and bring them to appreciate the richness of taste in a good stout at room temperature.
But I am not hopeful. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID EVANS, Hampton Court, Dublin 3.