The Wall Street Journal has performed a great service for beer drinkers. Veteran imbibers know that the fresher the beer is, the better it tastes. The problem is, how can you tell how fresh the beer is before you buy it? Now comes the Journal with an explanation of the code on the label that reveals the date by which the beer should be consumed. In the cases of three of my favorites--Miller Genuine Draft, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Pilsner Urquell--the codes are easy to understand: The month, day, and year come in order, so that 03-13-6 means March 13, 2006. Several others, like Sapporo, can be pretty tricky, with the month indicated by a letter of the alphabet--A for January, etc. That's why I welcome the Journal article.