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Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to respond to our bearded albumin band. Suggestions have been to change the name to ZZ Top or ABB(A). As a lover of classical music and violin music in particular I'll stick to the Dubliners, I think. To get serious just before happy hour, there were some very useful suggestions. Elevated fatty acids, bilirubin, salicylates, furan dicarboxylic acid, antibiotics and high-dose penicillin have all been named. Bisalbuminemia has been suggested. This is a disorder with a double albumin band, which is sometimes associated with raised amylase. A case of pancreas pseudocyst is known. Our patient had earlier protein electrophoresis patterns in which the albumin band was perfectly normal, so the beard is not hereditary. Kobayashi et al. AnnClinBiochem 1995;32:63-7 have shown that a double band, but also a bearding band can be produced by mixing serum with pancreatic juice. Because amylase nor lipase had been requested we measured them: amylase 50 U/L (<100), lipase 462 U/L (<190). The docters are currently thinking what to do next. Best wishes and keep up your alcohol dehydrogenase, so do not drink in a pub with no beer. Raymond Wulkan Rotterdam %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%