his weekend I have seen commercials both on television and on the internet advertising Coors Light's new vented wide-mouth can. The can is old; the vents are new. The vents - shallow diagonal ridges on each side of the can's mouth - are supposed to let air into the can whilst the undiscerning honest drinker drinks, enhancing the beer's flavor.

What a perfect example of what separates good beers from low-quality beers for the masses: if good beers want or need to improve, they modify their recipes and experiment with their selection of ingredients. Low-quality brewers cannot comprehend going to the trouble of improving their beer itself, so they scam you with a couple of changes in the physics of their can.

Note of clarification: Guinness improved their glass bottle by adding a nitrogen widget that is supposed to preserve a tap-like flavor. It does not work. Guinness, a good beer, is not so good in a bottle, but the quality of their keg product is their redemption.

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