It was 93 degrees when the American Craft Beer Northwest Passage Tour pulled into Bend, Oregon for a scheduled visit with Deschutes. We originally met Jason Randles, Deschutes’ Digital Marketing Manager, when he was in DC for this year’s SAVOR and had talked about connecting when we came through Bend. Unfortunately, Jason was in Portland on business, but had graciously set up a private tour of the brewery for us - and we can’t thank him enough for that!

So many craft beers, so little time. With so many craft breweries, releasing so many beers, we thought it might help to provide a weekly update on all the new beers hitting the streets...So welcome to this week’s edition of Newbies - your guide to great new releases!

From the production company that brought you Craft Beer Buzz Words: Episode I - Organic, and the much-lauded Craft Beer Buzz Words: Episode II - Sustainable, comes a tale of terror, unlike anything you have ever seen. You will be plunged into the sadistic mind of a master, taken through the depths of horror that only his twisted mind could dream up. This Halloween, we offer you a truly frightening thriller: pumpkin ale.

It’s Wednesday and its Rumor Mill Time! Collaborations Rule at Elysian’s 2012 Great Pumpkin Beer Festival and you won’t believe what they’ve brewed up this time! We’ll be giving you everything that we know so far, plus we’ve some fast-breaking craft beer news from next week’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver……We also have two hot new releases that you’ll definitely want to get your hands on. So fasten your seatbelt because IT IS ON!

American Craft Beer.com just received this urgent communiqué and it appears the International Arms Race between Frederick, Maryland’s Flying Dog Brewery and Scotland’s BrewDog is escalating dangerously. BrewDog bad boy James Watt is coming to the states and he’s pissed! And Flying Dog’s Matt Brophy is ready to jump ugly! Things don’t look good as both breweries prepare to UNLEASH THE DOGS OF WAR!

How many people does it take to do a cookout for a whole brewery? What do you get when you cross a brewery, a recording studio, and an awesome Pacific Northwest craft brewery? How does American Craft Beer's Founder and Editor in Chief always manage to get out of doing the hard work? All this and more as American Craft Beer visits Ninkasi Brewering.

This last Saturday, I had the oh-so fortunate opportunity to soak in Atlanta's great weather alongside a few thousand other craft beer enthusiasts at the 2012 HOToberfest in the Old Fourth Ward Historic Park.  One glance at this year's HOToberfest's beer list and there is no arguing that this festival is Atlanta's, if not the Southeast's premiere craft beer festival. 

This is a big week for Denver and a big week for craft beer because the 2012 Great American Beer Festival kicks off this week! If you’ve ever attended a GABF you know what we’re talking about. And if you’ve never attended it, you’ve been missing one of craft beer’s biggest events and should take a serious look at how you’re living your life!

If you've spent any amount of time talking with your wanderlust (or tech savvy) friends lately, there's a very good chance you're familiar with Airbnb, the site that is revolutionizing the way people experience new cities. Simply put, the site allows travelers to avoid hotels during their voyage by instead putting them up in rooms, apartments, houses, castles, houseboats, igloos, and every variation of shelter in between. And since travel and beer are two things that are inextricably linked, the site makes a great resource for any hop heads trying to hit the road.