A bottle of wine has it. Many liquors, including Scotch whiskey, are proud of it. But if you look for a date of manufacture on a bottle of beer, forget it! For many beer manufacturers, this is a closely held secret. In Latin America, and especially in the Dominican Republic, beer consumption has grown by leaps and bounds. In the DR, beer consumption grew by more than 10% in the first nine months of 2005, increasing from 38 to 42 liters per person. According to the article in the Wall Street Journal printed in Listin Diario, most beer experts say that beer deteriorates after six months. Researcher found that many of the more popular beer makers do have a code on the bottles to determine how long the bottles have been on the shelves. Corona uses an alphabetical code, Heineken uses numbers, and Miller and Budweiser print the date on the labels. In fact, many people attribute the publicity campaign by Anheuser-Busch that centered on “freshness” as spurring other beer companies to follow suit. In the Dominican Republic, the Presidente label carries a series of notches that identify the bottling date, but it is an industry secret just how to interpret the notches. Industry sources say that when air gets into a bottle of beer, an oxidation process similar to what happens with a sliced apple occurs, destroying the flavor. Currently, many beer distributors only carry a 15-day supply of inventory in order not to fall into disrepute for selling “old” beer.