12. Unwindulaxing

In this economy?!?

There are events in our lives where the time leading up to the event is organized squarely around The Event - preparing for, ruminating on, sometimes crying over, what is looming in front of us. In the pre-event days, we may spend some slivers of time wistfully thinking about what life will be like after The Thing is over. Then IT happens and we suddenly find ourselves on the other side. Time is broken into the days before IT and the days after IT.

I am a little over 10 days past my third and final Master Cicerone exam. I say final time because 1. I am confident I made up the two points I need to pass and 2. Even if I don’t pass, I will not be taking the exam again. There are several reasons behind this decision, but one of the main ones is that I have other opportunities that I am way more excited about now. Opportunities for growing and learning in ways that I haven’t before and that I’m not willing to keep on pause until I pass an exam that, while still very important to me and still a very big accomplishment, does not really change my day-to-day life.

I spent the day after the exam laying on the couch in my Kansas City AirBnB, watching reality TV (the entire newest season of The Ultimatum and an older season of RuPaul’s Drag Race), intermittently dozing off, and scrounging around the refrigerator to see what delivery leftovers were remaining and still mostly edible. At one point, it vaguely occurred to me that I may be a bit (a lot) hungover, which I have not been for several months. A hangover would make sense given the amount of beer and liquor, plus an edible or two (weed is legal in my home state now!) I had consumed in a roughly 3.5-hour window the evening after the exam.

The next day, my mom came to pick me up for a weekend visit back home with my family. When I finally returned home home the next Sunday, I had been gone for a full two weeks. Not having to study plus being back in my normal routine meant that I spent a not insubstantial amount of time wondering what the hell to do with my time. Although I work remotely and had no meetings scheduled that would require me to look presentable, I spent one work day at my computer with a Wednesday Addams-inspired updo and bright red lips, just because I wasn’t sure what to do with an empty 30 minutes before I began my workday.

As countless other people have written about in recent weeks and months,¹ it seems like craft beer is going through a liminal time where no one really gives a shit about anything. Does anyone care anymore? Is anyone still passionate? And honestly, with the Master Cicerone exam firmly in my rearview mirror, I’ve spent the last week wondering what meaningful thing I can write about.

Because right now, I just really don’t give AF about beer and the beer industry.

Another year, another roster of US breweries collaborating with and attending festivals by problematic breweries. Another friend discovering exactly how underpaid they are compared to their male counterpart. Institutions wringing their hands about diversity and equity while getting hurt fe-fes because those voices they claim to want to lift had the audacity to ask them to please back their performances up with actions.

Right now, I really can’t muster up interest in researching and writing a 6-7 minute read on the social issues facing the choir who reads this newsletter. So I won’t. And that’s fine, too, because all of those same issues will still be there when I feel like fighting again. For now, I’m enjoying my freshly-earned free time and practicing frivolities that bring me joy just for the sake of having joyful frivolities in my life.²

Bothered. Moisturized. Not in My Lane.

I am also giving my palate a bit of a break after a weeklong intensive taster training course followed by the two days of the Master Cicerone exam. And the days after that explaining to various family members what it was exactly that I did during the exam. However, one thing I am almost always very on top of, even when not actively studying or working on my perception skills, is taking care of my palate.

One thing I rarely get asked about but that I wish more people would consider when palate training is your palate health. This is especially important as we move into cooler temperatures in the northern hemisphere, which for a lot of us means that we are inside more and breathing air that dries up our nasal passages.

I was very aware of taking care of my palate health in the days leading up to the exam because I was traveling to a cooler, less humid climate for the week prior to the exam and would be in a new environment with people who had all also traveled. One of the first things I did each night upon returning back to our AirBnB was to boil water, pour it into my bathroom sink, and stand over it with a towel over my head to help rehydrate my sinuses. (I am now the proud owner of a face steamer, which is great for your pores but is also excellent for moisturizing your nasal passages.)

Here are a few of my tips for keeping your nose and mouth in tiptop sensory condition:

Take care of your teeth and mouth. Brush and floss every day. I don’t use mouthwash because it can oftentimes cause more harm than good, particularly acidic and/or alcohol-based mouthwashes that can disrupt your mouth biome.

I prefer non-menthol toothpaste to avoid the trigeminal cooling effect and the lingering mint flavor that interferes with anything you ingest for a bit afterward. Fennel-flavored toothpaste is my favorite because there is no menthol and the mild flavor fades quickly.

Keep your nasal passages moist. If your airways are dry, you will not perceive aromas as well. For one thing, mucus helps “trap” aromatic compounds and introduces them to your olfactory receptors.

I’ve lived most of my adult life in the American South, which means that I am very much surrounded by humidity for most of the year (my nasal passages thank me for this, but my curly hair does not). Still, I sleep with a humidifier going every night and, during the dryer winter months, I keep a humidifier on my desk as well. I travel often and have a small travel humidifier I take with me everywhere.

Each night before bed, I put coconut oil on and in my nostrils, because it not only helps keep them moisturized but it also has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties. As previously mentioned, I also make use of either a basin filled with water hot enough to create steam and a towel over my head or a face steamer to help keep my sinuses hydrated.

Lastly, make it a practice to breathe through your nose as much as possible rather than breathing through your mouth. Your nose hairs act as filters for the air going into your body, removing microbes and dust before they get to your lungs. Your nose is far better than your mouth at humidifying and warming the air going into your lungs. Breathing through your nose also allows you to breathe deeper and helps activate more of the parasympathetic nerve receptors that help calm you down and reduce stress.³

And finally…

Before we leave each other, here are a few more things I am up to:

1. Prepping for my Creepy Off-Flavors class at Red’s Beer Garden on Sunday, October 29, beginning at 4:00 pm. I’m so excited about this one - so excited, in fact, that I pitched Red on the idea in like March. I’d love to see you there if you're close to Atlanta! This will be the sensory equivalent of sticking your hand in bowls of entrails and eyeballs.⁴

   Registration is required and is $28.00 per person - if cost is a barrier for you, please reach out to me.

2. Traveling to Valdivia, Chile to judge in my very first international beer competition, Copa Cervezas de America! I’ve never been to South America before and I am AMPED.

3. Presenting a malt sensory webinar for the Craft Maltsters Guild on Thursday, November 30 at 3:00 pm EDT entitled “Leveraging Malt Sensory for Recipe Development.” Beer recipe development and structure is going to be a 2024 project for me, so I’m excited for the opportunity to roll out some of my techniques for my malt friends.⁵

   Attendance is free for Guild members and $20 for non-members. Again, if cost is a barrier, please reach out to me.

4. Reading How to Taste: A Guide to Discovering Flavor and Savoring Life by friend and fellow Advanced Cicerone, Mandy Naglich. I wouldn’t expect anything less than excellence and entertainment from Mandy and this book delivers! Even as someone who has read a lot about sensory and tasting, I continue to learn new sensory concepts every time I pick up this book.

1. For more, please read The Share’s “Does the Beer Industry Seem Weird Right Now? You’re Not Alone” and Hugging the Bar’s “If You Think Craft Beer’s Dead You’re Not Paying Attention.” If you’re not already subscribed to these two newsletters, go ahead and subscribe while you’re at it.

2. Prioritizing my exam prep as well as my mental health is also why you’re getting this newsletter halfway through the month instead of on the first day of the month.

3. For more on oral health and breathing, I highly recommend reading If Your Mouth Could Talk: An In-Depth Guide to Oral Health and Its Impact on Your Entire Life by Dr. Kami Hoss and Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor.

4. Costumes are optional but encouraged.

5. I guess costumes are optional for this as well.