Sir, - The recent study by Dr Robin Dover on Guinness loss through absorption into the moustache deserves closer scrutiny.
Whilst there is no doubt that there is indeed some loss of the precious fluid through hair absorption, this phenomenon is more than offset by the beneficial effects of the process itself.
As a marginal amount of the Guinness is slowly drawn into the follicles closest to the nose, it creates an ambience that permeates the brain via the local senses (particularly smell). This is caused by vaporisation, as the Guinness makes contact with the skin at the follicle roots and is inhaled between sips to maintain continuity of effect, which in effect creates the conditions that will allow for the full appreciation of the constituent parts of the fluid being consumed, and may indeed go some way towards our inability to understand why we are sitting on a four legged stool in the first place. - Yours, etc.,
Niall Ginty, Howth Road, Dublin 5.