September brings new beginnings.

It’s harvest season and the start of a new school year. Where I used to live in Maine, it’s when the “leaf peeping” tourists flood the state to spy the spectacular fall foliage. In Germany, Oktoberfest actually begins in this month, and in Japan the major national breweries (Kirin, Asahi, Suntory, and Sapporo) replace the light, effervescent beers of summer with their darker and heavier autumn ales. In Bulgaria, the 9th of September is either celebrated as the glorious launch of the country’s post-WWII socialist era or mourned as the commencement of its ignominious descent into totalitarian hell. It depends whom you ask and how drunk they are when you ask them. Read more here