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What’s up, beer geek! This is The Beer Scholar 6-Pack weekly newsletter, a short clean email featuring 6 bulleted links with brief descriptions for each.

Howdy beer geek! It's been awhile. I'm working my @ss off on the dilly daily to make my new online course for the CC exam even better (there's even been some movement on creating AC study material!). It's a lot...and so my weekly 6 Pack output has suffered, but fear not! 2023 is the year all this stuff gets completed and I can focus on making dope content instead of working on tech. Yay!

 

That fine fellow I'm hanging out with in the pic above is Anudeep Reddy, the only Advanced Cicerone in India...literally one in a billion! 1.4 billion, really. Anudeep and I hit half the breweries in Portland, OR together a couple weeks ago, right before he headed back home. You've got be dedicated to come to the US to take a beer exam! Also, consider that he can't get most of the BJCP classic examples of any styles where he lives, but he still crushed the AC tasting exam! What a beast! ACs Scott Fielder and Chris Crowe helped prep Anudeep for the exam (and they're creating Beer Scholar AC study material, so that's pretty freakin' dope!). Congrats to Anudeep on a very successful trip to the US!

Also, I've posted a few new side-by-side comparisons of classic styles featuring myself and ACs Scott Fielder and Chris Crowe on the Beer Scholar YouTube channel. Here's the latest with some jazzier than usual editing. If you're learning styles or prepping for the CC or AC exam, definitely check those out. 

Beer of the Week: Anchor Our Special Ale, aka Anchor Xmas ale. This is a perpetual winner, but this year's is particularly nice. It comes in at 7.2% ABV and features some seriously minty eucalyptus-like notes layered over rich toasty malt. The mulling spice vibe here is a fairly light touch for the 2022 edition. Apparently, they were going to a Fernet type of Italian amaro vibe with this beer. I think they really nailed it in so much as the beer is wonderful in the standard holiday ale way, while also standing out as having a touch of minty Fernet. To be fair, I'm not sure I would've called that amaro connection out in a blind tasting, but it really works here. Go get yourself a sixer before it's too late! 

As always, here are 6 dope links for your Friday 6 Pack. Enjoy.

TBS 6-Pack

On Selling a Lifestyle: The Food Content Ouroboros by Alicia Kennedy, one of my fave food writers. This was one of the best pieces she did in 2022. It's all about that "content creator" life! Even though Alicia is pretty big now as an influencer, those of you who are trying to make those moves will relate. This was one of my other faves of hers from 2022: The Strange Dreaminess of People-Watching at a Dive Bar

I got too busy to make a "Best Gifts for Beer Geeks This Holiday Season" post/email, but if I had gotten around to it I would've included David Nilsen's Pairing Beer & Chocolate Zine. I bought a copy (only $12+shipping!) and it's the best chocolate & beer pairing advice I've ever read. I'd also buy myself (I am my fave beer geek, after all) some of those beer infused chocolate bars David wrote about here: The Chocolate Conspiracy’s Beer-Infused Chocolate Bars. 

The Atlantic 10, The Books That Made Us Think The Most This Year. Listicles, sigh...but actually several of these reads sound awesome. So, if you're looking for something to read or listen to, perhaps consider one of these. 

Researchers find an elusive European parent of lager yeast in Ireland by Oxford University Press. You may or may not be aware that lager yeast (S. pastorianus) is a hybrid of ale yeast (S. cerevisiae) and another more cold tolerant species called S. eubayanus. The big question for the last decade has been where the f%&^ did S. eubayanus come from? First scientists found it in South America...then it turned up in China...and now guess what, it was found in dirt in Ireland. Tests show the Irish samples are indeed directly related to modern lager yeast. Now we know S. eubayanus is native to Europe and didn't come back on Marco Polo or Columbus' boots. Mystery solved. 

Exploring Different Hazy Strains with White Labs featuring Kara Taylor of White Labs. If you're a yeast geek, homebrewer, or haze gazer (I just made that up, is it any good, I don't know) then this 30 minute vid will do ya right. 

Cheers,

Chris