We can’t believe it’s July already…So much has happened this year and it doesn’t appear that things will be slowing down any time soon. But no worries – Rumor Mill is always on the case, keeping you plugged in to all the craft beer news that matters. Plus we’ve an all-important update on what we’ve been drinking lately and you absolutely don’t want to miss that.

American Brewers Rule at 2015 US Open Beer Championship (Oxford, OH) – The 2015 United States Open Beer Championship were announced over the weekend and as usual, American brewers kicked ass. And with more than 20 international breweries including Australia, China, Czech Republic, Venezuela, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Mexico,  Sweden, Finland, Scotland and England competing, that’s no small feat. Ballast Point Brewing was named Grand National Champion by winning three gold medals and a silver medal. Our friends at Lakewood in Texas took second while Revelry Brewing in Charleston, South Carolina took home third.

Blood Doping Rumors Continue To Plague The WTF! (Brussels) – Spokespersons for the World Tank-Diving Federation (WTF) continue to address rumors that nitro-doping is a widespread practice throughout the league. A practice that affords the competition’s divers an unfair advantage and prolonged fermentation tank submersion times. While the league has acknowledged that these practices may have taken place in the past, they reject that nitro-doping is now common practice amongst its divers and vociferously reject calls for league-wide testing. Calls for increased scrutiny come at an unfortunate time for the WTF, as they look to bring their wildly popular competitions to North America in 2016.

Throwing the Brewing Dice In A Brutal Economy (Seattle. WA) – What seems like a no-brainer today was an incredibly risky move five and a half years ago, When Matthew Lyceum decided to open Fremont Brewing Co. in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. The former attorney, community organizer and environmental activist had only $10,000 in the bank, no credit and no loans when he began on what many considered a fool’s errand, and our friend, Jason Notte, recently chronicled what led to his eventual success for MarketWatch and you need check it out.

Shocker – Eastern Europeans Drink Lots Of Beer! (Romania) – Go Euro a travel site that compares pricing on trains, buses and flight just released their 2015 Beer Pricing Index – and found to the surprise of a very few, that residents of Bucharest drink more beer per capita, than any other place on the planet. Helsinki does however, spend the most money on beer annually and Cairo spends the least.

What We’ve Been Drinking Lately (Washington, DC) – We’d like to thank all the breweries who ship us beer from time to time. It’s always great to sample the brews that we write about and helps to give us a better feel for what’s happening out there. And last night we hit a beer that the brother’s Hanson sent us along with their newest musical release ANTHEM. The Hanson Brothers Mmmhops is no pretender – it’s an unapologetic hop-forward 7.5% American Pale Ale. And like the band that produced it – it’s deserving – and their new music is as well.

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