What’s up, beer geek!

Welcome to the first Beer Scholar 6-Pack weekly newsletter. TBS 6-Pack is a short & clean email featuring 6 bulleted links with a brief description for each. It will be 6 of the most interesting things I've found online or IRL that week. Of course, it'll lean beer heavy, but I'll throw in other fun stuff, too.

It's been a couple months since I launched my Online Course for the Certified Beer Server exam and so far it has gotten a whole lot of positive feedback, so I wanted to say thanks to all of you! Also, The Beer Scholar Online Course for the CC Exam is coming along despite my packed schedule and lots of traveling. I'm just back from 10 days at a wedding in Costa Rica -- it was easily one of the best trips of my life thanks to epic levels of organizing a week of good times by the grooms. 

OK, on with this week's 6-Pack!

TBS 6-Pack

WHAT I'M CRUSHING ON:
The Lambic Basket: James Tweed is a guy who makes beautiful handmade basket for pouring bottles of lambic. It's a pastime for him, not a job, so he only releases a few dozen each year (scarcity!). You have to be on his mailing list to hear about basket releases and he raffles and/or auctions them off with much of the profit going to charity. There's a release coming up, get on his mailing list and check out his Fb page if you want in.

WHAT I'M READING:
The Best Books About Aroma & Flavor by Stan Hieronymus: Stan is an legendary beer writer. Here he picks 5 books for learning about aroma and flavor. I've read 3 of them and I will definitely be purchasing the other two on the list. 

MALT I'M BREWING WITH:
Sugar Creek Malt Co: I've NEVER seen so many amazing malt options for homebrewers (and pros). These folks are doing very very interesting small batch malting. For instance, they have a crazy selection of smoked malts, including their version of malt made in a Såinnhus by farmhouse brewers in Stjordal, Norway! Are you f'ing kidding me! Their website is rough, but just bounce around and you'll figure it out. Support these folks, they're doing amazing work.

PODCAST I'M LISTENING TO:
False Bottomed Girls: This podcast is the product of Advanced Cicerones Jen Blair & Rachael Hudson, both of who recently took the Master Cicerone exam. It's the smartest beer podcast out right now. Subscribe!

TWO ARTICLES I'M PONDERING:
From respair to cacklefart – the joy of reclaiming long-lost positive words: Everyone is suddenly a word nerd, thanks to Wordle (which is a fun way to kill 5 minutes if you haven't played it yet). Did you know kempt, ruly, wieldy, and ept used to be positive words of their own? Check out this article if you want to learn the meaning of cacklefart and a bunch of other fun words.

Octopuses High on MDMA Gave Each Other Eight-Armed Hugs: Maybe they really aren't that different from humans after all? This is from 2018, but it's really fun.

BONUS LINK FOR BEER SCHOLARS IN OHIO:
Style Masters: 5 Ohio Craft Breweries to Try Now by David Nilsen. While the title may sounds like BuzzFeed bullsh1t, you know that if David N is making recommendations, you should check them out. Here are his recent picks for fave Ohio beers in a variety of styles, including BA, sours, lagers, IPAs, & stouts.

Have a lovely weekend, y'all!

Chris