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Happy Halloween weekend! Got any big plans? My partner's birthday is on Halloween, so we always party down. Call me a Basic Beer Buff, but I do love my pumpkin ales, corn mazes, and hot apple cider (with Jamaican rum) about this time of the year. Yes, I had a PSL...but I promised myself this would be the last time I attempted to relive that nostalgia because gottdang are they way way too sweet. Yo Starbucks - we like the flavor but don't need 1,000 calories of sugar with it! Thanks for the memories tho. My Halloween this year will involve a small dance party in a rug shop and then karaoke at a tiki bar (Portlanders will likely know where that means). 

In other Beer Scholar news: 

• AC Scott Fielder & I have more or less filled our Advanced Cicerone Coaching Program cohort #2. That said, if you want in, hit me up by filling out the application ASAP. It only takes a minute & we'd be down to add one more to the cohort. Find more info here. 
• Let's talk about the big picture...things are going well for Beer Scholar. After legit 2 full years of working on it -- the underlying tech platforms, writing / producing / shooting the courses, creating marketing, launching AC Coaching -- I'm stoked to announce that it's going well. What this means is I can now begin to focus more on fun cool stuff I WANT to be doing, rather than scrambling to survive. While the business of running a business never subsides, keep an eye out for new episodes of Sipping in Style (FINALLY!) and other fun stuff in the near future...like getting the 6 Pack as a weekly beer news style podcast! 

The 6 Pack

As always, here are six quick links, each with a short blurb.

• What to do if you can’t find the BJCP listed commercial examples of classic styles  

I wrote this short blog post about what to do if you do not have local access to BJCP listed classic examples of beer styles...this can be a real issue when you're prepping for the Cicerone exams.

• I helped judge the North American Guild of Beer Writers Awards, here are the winners

Looking for some beer reading, new podcasts, etc? There's A LOT of great content here for you to work through!   

• Salt taste is surprisingly mysterious - Knowable Mag

Interesting & weird! "The good-salt taste detects moderate levels of sodium and signals the brain that this is desirable. The second, bad-salt taste, which detects potentially harmful salt levels, works differently — perhaps by detecting sodium’s molecular partner, chloride." Much more in the article.

• Photographer Marco Arguello finds fake food in Japan - We Present

This is amazing, go look at the photos: "Outside of Japan, plastic food is bright, crude and cute. It’s for children. In Japan though, fake food is a whole other story. Peer through any restaurant window and you’ll see a display of painstakingly-crafted plastic food, known as shokuhin sampuru."

• Roads With the Least Traffic in America - Atlas Obscura

I would like to make a trip out to drive the loneliest road in OR. The scenery looks amazing. Check out the options near you. 

• Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix - trailer on YouTube 

Do you dig anime? Surprise plot twists? Violent video games? Frog Assassins? If so, you'll dig this insane new series on Netflix. I chilled with a pot gummy & watched the whole thing in a single evening. Ten out of ten would recommend. 

Thanks for reading, y'all! Have a good one. 

Cheers, 

Chris