It's Wednesday and there's all kinds of things going down!

Washington DC's getting ready to Party and Grand Rapids is going Organic! It's Heavy Seas for Devil's Backbone and Seattle's got something huge going on .... Plus we've got some hot new summer releases just in time for your Memorial Day Weekend!

So on to "Everything We Think Matters."

We thought you'd want to know . . .

If you don't know about SaveOnBrew.com, you should. They're the website and mobile app dedicated to bringing you the absolute lowest beer prices in your zip code.

They also publish well-researched reports to let you know if you're getting royally screwed on your local beer prices - comparing your local to other places in the nation - and they've just released a new report that identifies the states with the best and worst beer tax laws in the country.

"If there are any doubts that the United States is the world leader in the craft beer industry, the May 5 results of the World Beer Cup in San Diego should remove them."

It's like a plague of common sense, and it's sweeping the nation.....

It what many consider a shocking departure from form, state legislators everywhere continue to do the right thing! Last week we reported on Virginia's Governor McDonnell who signed in two pieces of legislation that support Virginia craft brewers. And we wrote about Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy who signed in a bill allowing for alcohol sales on Sundays.

And now in what we see as yet another sign of some impending apocalypse, Pennsylvania legislators have also decided to do the right thing!

It's summertime, and the living is easy. Fish are jumping, and the cotton is high . . .

There's a lot of innovation going on in craft brewing. There are new trends appearing all the time. Sometimes these trends can sneak up on you. They happen around you and then maybe you notice. And we've just noticed that summer beers (or at least the beers we find ourselves drinking in the summer) are getting a whole lot more interesting.

"No soul and no morals, with the integrity of a rabid dog and the style of a wart hog."

-BrewDog

We're late on this but we find this story emblematic and it still pisses us off....You may have read about the BrewDog award scandal that took place a few weeks back. Seems our friends from Scotland were swindled out of an honor by corporate beer giant Diageo at the British Institute of Innkeeping's (BII) awards. Diageo operates several major global brands; including Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Bailey's and Red Stripe -and they showed their ugly side!

We blame the industry for this . . .

It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday we could coast into the weekend. No more need to check for industry email or press release things . . . We were pretty much done! We could step away early, have a beer and do "whatever," but all that has seriously changed.

So, here's some of what's happened while you were enjoying yourselves this weekend . . .

We've never been big fans of craft beer industry cutting corners-But this just makes all kinds of sense!

Hey, it's Friday, and that's good. We hope everyone's enjoying their American Craft Beer Week, because it officially wraps up this Sunday. And since ACBW is still going on, this weekend's picks are necessarily all about the beer! And you better be ready, because there are tons of great craft beer events going on this weekend! So, fasten your seatbelts, because this thing is not over till we say it's over!

Welcome to "The American Craft Beer Week Continues" edition of our Weekend Picks . . .

The Beaver State represented well at the 20th annual Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) as three Oregon breweries received trophies. Deschutes Brewery (Bend), Pelican Pub & Brewery (Pacific City), and Caldera Brewing (Ashland) will all be returning stateside to show off some new hardware.