At the time, it must have seemed like a grand idea to the folks at the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Civil Defense Administration. In 1955, the U.S. agencies conducted experiments, dubbed Operation Teapot, in the Nevada desert to determine what impact a nuclear explosion would have on beer and soda cans stored near Ground Zero (GZ). That's right, beer and soda cans. As it turned out, the containers--which the government thought might provide an "important source of fluids" for blast survivors--fared well following two test explosions. If you put aside, of course, the radioactivity and the brew's suddenly funky taste (then again, it couldn't have been worse than Old Milwaukee). Here are some highlights from the government report on the Nevada beer blast. (11 pages)

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