American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
We blame the industry for this… It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday, we could coast through the weekend. There was little need to check in for updates – things were pretty much done. But clearly all that’s changed.
So here’s some of what’s happened in the world of craft beer while you were off enjoying yourselves.
A Weekend to SAVOR (Washington, DC) – The 8th annual SAVOR was held at the amazing National Building Museum over the weekend and we were able to attend. SAVOR is the nation’s marquee craft beer and food pairing event and it was absolutely brilliant this year. Over the course of two nights, 4,000 attendees were given the opportunity to enjoy a sampling of small bites and craft beers from 76 small and independent craft brewers from all 
across the United States. As always, it was great hanging out with our friends in the brewing community – drinking serious beer late into the evening in a spectacular setting. We’d like to thank the Brewers Association for having us – and everyone for putting up with us – as usual we had too much fun.
The Backyard Symposium (Frederick, MD) – Last Friday, Flying Dog hosted their 4th Annual Backyard Symposium, out at their palatial Frederick, Maryland, compound and it was a blast. This industry-only outing takes place at a time when just about everybody is in town for SAVOR and it has fast become one of the hottest “invites” in the brewing community. This year’s symposium was attended by more than 300 industry heavies who were treated to a day of great conversations, delicious food, and serious beer. The insightful panel discussions on the state of the craft beer industry were helmed by DC Beer’s ever ebullient Bill DeBaun. Bill behaved himself – we didn’t.
No Baby Pics on Beer Labels in New Hampshire (Concord, NH) – Governor Maggie Hassan vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have allowed some images of minors to grace alcoholic beverage labels as long as they didn’t encourage young people to drink. Reason.com is reporting that State Representative Keith Murphy, who also runs a popular tavern, sponsored the bill because he wanted to be able to buy Founders Breakfast Stout and that “beer’s label depicts a chubby, Norman Rockwell-esque baby scooping oatmeal into his mouth.”
Hindu Region Goes Beer Crazy (Adilabad, India) – You can blame it on the heat or just mark it up to the human need to “party” but something is responsible for a huge escalation in Adilabad beer sales in May. More than 44,000 cases of beer were sold that month and that increase coincides with the region experiencing a monumental heatwave, according to The Hindu. Tom Bobak, Editor at American Craft Beer, thinks that the answer to this surge might be more complex. “If you’ve ever seen a Bollywood movie, you understand that these people live to party,” Bobak mused. “Add beer to the super-heated mix and it’s anything goes, Hindu-style.”
